Reflected soul
by Zuenira Azure
Summary: Mana is the beginning for Allen and the reason Allen continues to keep on walking. However, what if Mana never died when Allen was young back then? Will Allen still be an exorcist or just… Allen? Or possibly…
1. Prologue:A joyful start

Disclaimer: D . Gray – man is rightfully not ours, it belongs to the author whose name I forgot how to spell… I'm sorry dear author but my mind is still a bit foggy form the hospital. *apologizing bow*

**Prologue**

**-A joyful start -**

Applauds can be heard as the flexible pair of twins finished their usual performance of stretching their bodies with one another to form various kinds of things that are possible. The two boys gave their spectators a short bow as they left the ring, the head of their circus troop taking the spotlight while the next performer got ready.

The twins passed through the entrance to the back stage that was covered by leather fabric only. There they saw a fifteen years old brunette boy rushing himself in finishing his face-paint, mainly the nose which has not been painted at all.

The twin giggled together as they both lightly slapped the back of the boy making him carelessly slip the face paints on he was holding.

"Yo, Allen!" one of the boys who was wearing a light blue flexible suit greeted with a grin.

"Lee! Ree!" the boy replied with a hint of anger in his voice as he turned towards them, pouting a little.

Lee and Ree laughed when they saw the messed up paint which was caused when they both slapped Allen behind his back. The red paint that was supposed to be encircling his nose only got streak down to the boy's white cheeks too. Allen playfully punched one of the boys, wearing a darker shade of blue suit, with his disfigured left hand.

The good thing about being in a circus troop like this is that no one minded the unusual things that each member has since each one of them are weird in their own way.

"Allen!" a voice called out from nearby the entrance and the said boy turned towards the voice.

A man all dressed up in a clown suit, ready to go for the next performance let out a small sigh when he saw the unprepared boy. He walked towards him as the twins stopped their laughter and stepped aside for him to reach the boy. Everyone knew how close the two were.

The man picked up the red paint while he held the boy's chin. "Stay still, Allen." The man instructed as he began doing Allen's face paint. "We need to hurry, our performance is next."

Allen gave him a warm smile. "Okay, Mana."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Ruffling of papers can be heard from the room as the door opened to reveal a room full of papers everywhere. The floors were heaped with them, near the book cases too and god, the table was practically piled with papers.

A raven-haired man wearing a long coat and a red-haired cheer-y looking guy entered the room alongside another man with spiky light brown hair with a white a coat.

"Komui…" the one wearing the white coat sighed.

More ruffling of papers can be heard as a head came into view from the piles of papers on the desks. The head, which was obviously a man's, was wearing a white hat and spectacles. The expression can be classified as greatly tired as the dark violet curls that was usually kept behind his neck were now messily sticking

The red head let out a chuckle while the raven-haired remained silent.

"Ree…veerrrr…" Komui called out slowly and tiredly.

"Hurry up and tell these guys their mission. I need to go and do some paper works for you to sign and check later." the man wearing the white coat, Reever, replied without the slightest hint of mercy.

"That's mean Reever…" Komui drawled out as he got himself out from the piles of papers and stood up in front of his desk, setting foot on the papers on the floor.

"Whatever…" Reever quickly left the office room.

"So, what do you have for us today, Komui?" the red-head asked with anticipation.

"Some finders had reports of seeing a parasitic type of innocence user…" Komui began as he handed two sheets of papers to each of the exorcists. The red head one, began to flip them open and quickly browse through the pages.

"Parasitic type?" the other guy, who had his raven hair tied to a pony tail. "Che. Hope he is not that weak to be an exorcist…"

"You haven't even seen him and you are already insulting him?" the red head commented as he closed the booklet.

"Ahem." Komui cleared his throat to get back their attentions. "We are not sure of that information yet but it is a high possibility. You guys will be the one to investigate that. We can't let the finders do it alone since akuma may be targeting this boy as he has an innocence." Komui explained. "And Kanda," Komui looked at the raven-haired exorcist straight in the eyes, "Try not to kill him."

Kanda just turned around and left the room with out saying anything more.

"Yuu-chan! Wait up!!" the red head called as he shot Komui a goodbye grin before catching up to the raven-haired exorcist.

"Right…" Komui turned around and paled visibly as the sight of the paperwork greeted him again.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Allen laughed loudly as Mana fell on his back when he pulled the fishing rod too hard. The man stood back up while Allen carefully removes the fish from its hook before showing Mana the catch of the day.

"It's quite big Mana! Your fall is a fair sacrifice for this size of fish." Allen giggled.

Mana can't help but smile at the light brown haired boy. The way Allen laughed happily made him glad.

"Well, let's just hope there's more like the ones I caught." Mana replied as he took the fish from Allen's grasp and put it in a bucket which was filled with two smaller fish. "I doubt this is enough for you alone."

Mana was of course referring to Allen's huge appetite. Allen pouted when Mana said that and the expression made the older man chuckle.

"It's because of my high metabolism, Mana!" Allen reasoned with a slight flush on his cheeks. To him, when some one talked about his eating habits, it made him embarrassed.

The light atmosphere suddenly made a huge turn. Allen let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground near the river. Mana hurriedly went to Allen's side letting go of the fishing rod he was holding.

"Allen! Are you alright?" Mana cried alarm as he turned Allen around so that he can see Allen's face. Blood were smeared on the boy's fore head, dirtying his brown bangs with crimson.

Mana can feel his heart skip a beat. He was feeling two different things at the moment. Fear, as he knew that soon enough that man will come and take Allen away and happiness since his brother's plan had finally moved in motion. However, on top of all those feelings, Mana realized something, over the years he had lived with the boy, he had developed a fatherly bond towards him and now, he's not sure whether if he really wants Allen to disappear completely.

Mana picked the boy up and brought him to the tent that they had set up behind the place where they held their circus performances. Their tent was not alone, since more than a dozen were also set up near by for the other performers. Stepping inside the tent quickly as not wanting anyone to know what's going, Mana zipped the entrance of the tent.

He gently put Allen down on the mattress. A grunt was heard from the boy as more blood seems to seep out. Mana took a piece of cloth, poured water on it from a drinking bottle near by. He carefully wiped the blood off and as soon as he did, there it was the crosses that lined the boy's head.

Mana took a roll of bandages to cover the crosses when Allen woke up later. After the deed was done, he gave another look at the pained expression on Allen's feature. It was quite disturbing to see him like that. This was the second time Mana had seen the transformation of a Noah and he knew that the procedure will be more painful later on.

A bead of tear made its way down his right cheek. Mana blinked as he wiped the tear off. He was actually crying… It had been a long time since his last tears. Closing his eyes, Mana took a deep breath, he had made his decision.

"Allen," Mana reopened his eyes again as he soothingly brushed his hand through Allen's brown locks of hair. "I'm sorry…"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Chapter End -|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: When I was in the hospital, I suddenly got this idea of: 'wonder what will happen If Mana never did die?' Mana was basically the thing that made Allen live and the way he is. Mana was the one who influenced Allen a whole lot… So, then pops up the idea of this story…

There would be some light Laven in this story. Please take note of that…


	2. Enter the exorcists

This is a simple disclaimer.

**Chapter one**

**-Enter the exorcists-**

Crowds of people, mostly consisting of families and children gathered in front of the opening of the tent. Each showed their tickets to what seemed like a man wearing a monkey and another man wearing a parrot costume. The children laughed and giggled upon seeing the strange dressed men, as to what their 3 years old mind can register. Though, among the crowd that was entering the tent waiting to see the performance, two stood out.

Lavi flashed the parrot suit guy his ticket and Kanda's ticket. The parrot man paused for a while and seemed to be questioningly observing the two exorcists, well that's what Lavi presume since the man's expression can't exactly be seen due to the parrot head his wearing.

"Are you going to let us in or what?" Kanda snapped when the man didn't show any signs of letting them through.

"O – oh. I'm sorry," the parrot answered as he moved to the side to let them in, "Forgive me for my… staring. It's just rare to see teenagers here coming alone without families, they usual hate this kind of thing…"

Lavi just gave the man his trade mark grin as he walked in.

"I do hate these things." Kanda muttered under his breath as he entered. His remarks went unheard by the parrot.

The inside of the tent was full of people chattering away. The audiences were seated around the side of the stage, which was at the centre. Lavi and Kanda were placed on the front row. After few minutes after taking their respective seats, the show began.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Allen? Why is your forehead bandaged up?" Lee and Ree asked simultaneously as they both closed in the younger boy who was in the process of putting his face paint on.

"I got hurt, fishing with Mana yesterday," Allen briefly answered as he pushed the twins away. "Now, if you please, I need to get ready."

Allen turned towards the mirror and continued on with his face paint but the twins still didn't leave him alone. Allen can practically see their Cheshire cat grins on their faces from the reflection in the mirror.

"Right! It's your first time performing alone, nee Allen?" Ree stated, the smile still on his face. He was about to say more when the ring master called out their name. It was the twins turn to get on stage. Ree quickly bed Allen a short wave as he left.

"Wish you good luck Allen!" Lee finished off as he joined his brother.

Allen just smiled. He checked his reflection again to make sure nothing was wrong. For some odd reasons, he was feeling nervous and uneasy. Then his eyes fell on to the bandage that covered his forehead. Allen wasn't worried about performing with a bandaged head, he can hide the bandage under the hat he was going to wear. The truth why he was feeling so uncomfortable was because Mana wasn't performing with him today.

The incident when he fainted had been two days ago and the first sight Allen saw when he woke up was Mana. Mana explained that he had been out for only a few hours. Afterwards, when he inquired about the bandage he was wearing, Mana just said that he had a cut and not to open the bandage any time sooner.

Though, Allen can't recall injuring himself at that time before he fainted. However, Mana did say he got injured when he fell unconscious and his head hit a rock or something in that sense. Allen was not one for memories or directions for that matter, unfortunately.

After that, things went normally but Mana still told him not to remove the bandage. It was strange though, Allen swore that every single day when he woke up, the bandage on his head had been replaced with a fresh one most likely by Mana but Mana never mentioned anything about it. It was as if, Mana was keeping something from him.

Allen had finished with his preparations and he looked at his reflection on the mirror. The white bandage encircling his forehead. He was really tempted to just see what was beneath that bandage, unconsciously his left deformed arm reached up and touched the white fabric. Before he was able to do anything further, a voice called him.

"Allen?" Mana's voice called out in slight uncertainty whether the brunette was still there or not.

Allen quickly turned around to face Mana. A smile crept on Mana's face.

"Mana!" Allen beamed as he stood up from his seat in front of the mirror.

Mana made raised his hands in front of him motioning Allen to just stay where he was as Mana began to walk towards the younger boy.

"What are you doing here Mana? Aren't you supposed to be handling the tickets for today?" Allen pointed out the parrot costume that Mana still donned. Wonder where the 'head' went.

"Is Allen not happy to see me?" Mana faked a frown and a sad look as Allen laughed and hugged the man which proved to be difficult as the costume Mana was wearing was too big in diameter.

Mana hugged the boy back and smiled softly. "I just came here to check on you. This is your first solo performance after all." Mana exclaimed as Allen pulled away and looked up at his foster father.

"Mana…" Allen murmured.

"Hmm? What's wrong Allen?" Mana looked at the boy who had an uncomfortable look. "Getting nervous?"

'Should I tell him?' Allen debated with himself, Allen thought for a while before coming to a decision, 'I'll tell him after the whole event.'

"Never mind," Allen said giving Mana an assuring smile. "Thanks for checking on me Mana." Allen seriously meant that last statement.

Mana patted the boy's hair affectionately before placing a jester's hat that is part of Allen's costume on top of his head, covering the bandage. Allen did some adjusting so that it won't fall off.

"It looks good on you Allen." Mana commented as he observed the boy's clothing for the performance."I need to continue my work now," Mana continued, "Good luck."

"Aww… Do you want to leave me that badly?" Allen pouted playfully. This was usually how Mana made him calm before a performance and right now, Allen really need to avoid getting nervous.

Mana laughed at Allen's childish attitude. "Don't worry, I'll be watching, so do your best."

Man gave a light wave towards Allen which Allen waved back. As soon as Mana disappeared from his view Allen let out a sigh. 'Time to get going,' Allen thought but before he could take a step a sudden head ache shot up. Allen pressed his bandaged forehead, making the hat he wore fall backwards as he tried to suppress the pain to its minimum. Every since he passed out, he would suffer some light headache frequently but this time the pain had intensified. After a few seconds, his hand felt something warm and as Allen pulled his hand away from his forehead to take a look at what was causing the sensation, Allen's heart raced faster. So much for getting calm.

Even though the color of it was faint, Allen can tell that it was blood. That never did happen before. Did the injuries he got reopened? Should I change the bandage? Allen looked at the mirror that was still near him- he just realized that he was still rooted to the same spot as before. What Allen saw surprised him. Sure enough, the white bandage was now stained with crimson but that was not the thing that made the boy shocked.

There, on the reflection of the mirror, he saw a shadow with big hollow eyes and a grin that stretched from ear to ear. Allen turned around to see if anyone was behind him but nothing. Allen looked back at the mirror and the shadow was still there.

"What's going on?" Allen asked no one in particular. Was he hallucinating? Is the head ache making him experience illusions or something? Was that even remotely possible?

Allen considered on the idea of calling Mana but Ree, one of the twins had barged in the room, an alerted look on his face as he both panted. Allen quickly put on his hat back before turning around from the mirror to face the boy.

"Allen! It's your turn!!!" Ree yelled as soon as he caught his breath.

He stomped towards Allen and pulled the poor boy's right arm.

"What were you doing standing around like that!?! I thought you would have finished a long while ago!" Ree continued his voice high as he was still dragging Allen towards the stage.

Allen just gave him a smile mumbling an apology. As they reached the platform where the performance was held, Lee and some of the other performers came into view. Some of them with a slight panic on their faces while some who noticed Allen, looked crossly at him and this included Lee.

"Allen!" Lee exclaimed as he ran towards the pair, "Where were you?! You should have been here minutes ago! Thank goodness the master ring managed to delay your performance!"

Allen glanced at the platform that acted as a stage for them, sure enough; the ring master was really trying his best to make sure the whole performance went smoothly. He was now currently doing some basic magic tricks.

"I'm sorry. I got distracted…" Allen apologized again as Ree let his arm go. "Thanks for calling me, I'm-"

"Shut the hell up and just perform already!" both twins cried out before Allen had the chance to say more.

Allen made a hasty nod and walked quickly towards the stage where the ring master nodded at him indicating Allen to enter.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Lavi was sure that Kanda was going to explode any moment now. Kanda was just that kind of guy. Anytime now… Anytime… Lavi turned away from the platform where the ring master was doing some ordinary magic tricks and looked at his mission partner.

And that was it. "Fuck this." Kanda said with clear annoyance as he stood up from his seat earning a few disagreements from the ones sitting behind them as Kanda was blocking the view-not that he cared.

The performance had managed to irritated the samurai, after only twenty minutes, the navy-haired exorcist was clearly pissed. The acts were so petty –to him- and it was so childish –it is a circus aimed for the kids and families alike- not to mention that the clowns that acted as the opening act were doing idiotic things such as spraying the other with water, making shaped out of balloons before popping them in the end and even throwing cakes and pies to the other clowns before bursting out in laughter and what made Kanda pissed the most was that the audiences were having a laugh at all those things! What was so amusing?! Even the rabbit, laughed! –well, the circus is designed for people that had humor in them, not guys like Kanda.

"Nee, what's wrong Yuu~?" Lavi asked playfully earning a morbid glare from the samurai which also shut up the unhappy spectators after seeing the samurai's expression.

"I'm investigating the backstage." Was the only thing Kanda said as his left arm gripped Mugen's hilt before leaving.

Lavi just grinned at his partner's attitude. It never gets old to see Kanda so angry.

'Then again…' Lavi turned towards the stage where the ring master was still doing those cheap tricks. 'I can understand why Yuu left.' The last performance that consist of a pair of twins walking the thin rope high above and also the pair swinging from one handle of rope to another in the air, was amazing. However, after that, the master ring came in and talked for a while before doing some simple magic tricks which he was still currently doing.

Nothing can escape the bookman's eye. It was clear that the master ring was trying to delay the next performance. Lavi let out a yawn. The magic tricks were classics and old ones that Lavi can't help but be bored.

'Maybe I should have joined Yuu…" that thought was immediately forgotten when a small figure entered and the master ring finished his tricks.

"I'm sorry to keep you all waiting!" the man said loudly as he did some gesture of apology with his hands before gesturing towards the boy – judging by his small figure – that had entered. "Now for our next act! A newly solo performer: Allen Walker! Our very own jester!"

'What?' Lavi's mind immediately registered the boy's name as the name that had been written on the mission book report that Komui had gave him. 'So, the one that possessed the parasitic innocence was this boy?' So young. Lavi can tell that the boy was younger than Lenalee.

The boy bowed down as he began his performance. Lavi's bookman mind, took in all the necessary details of the boy. He was quite short, possibly fourteen or fifteen. The boy was now standing on a ball half a third of his own size and while balancing himself, he threw some small daggers up and began to juggle them like an ordinary ball skillfully. Lavi also took note of the boy's impressive performing skill.

Now, for the description of the boy's physical appearance. He was wearing a jester's hat, the hat was floppy with three end points with a silver cross on each end of the points and the hat had a mismatched color of silver and black. Brown locks of the boy's hair can be seen protruding out of the hat's bottom. Lavi can't exactly tell the color of his skin tone since he was wearing a white make up all over.

The boy's clothing was quite different from the earlier clowns that performed. Instead of wearing brightly colored clothes, his only had several colors that only consisted of black, silver, white and gray. The long sleeved shirt he was wearing looked baggy especially on the long sleeves, it seemed as an over sized shirt. The shirt was pure white and where the buttons were, it was black while the buttons were silver. The gloves he wore were a deep gray. His trousers were not as baggy or big as his shirt, it was white and if Lavi have to compare, it was almost like Lavi's own white trousers except more shorter and not as fit. His white shoes were the normal sized shoe instead of the big ones the earlier clowns wore.

Then unconsciously, Lavi looked back at the boy's face, the smile that spread over his face was energetic and very influencing that Lavi actually smiled himself. The boy was clearly enjoying it. Without Lavi realizing it, he was staring in those grayish blue eyes as he continued to observe the boy's performance.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Kanda scowled as he walked towards the back stage. It seems that the performers and most of the troops were busy making sure the whole performance was a success.

'Like hell it was.' Kanda thought to himself when he entered the backstage, ignoring the 'AUTHOURIZED PERSONNEL ONLY' sign.

Kanda looked at his surroundings; there wasn't anything that looks unusual for a circus backstage. So, Kanda continued walking when he saw the parrot guy from before, this time without the parrot head on, walking out from one of the rooms. Without the mask, the man looked more manly. The man noticed Kanda's presence and gave him a questioning look.

"You're that boy from before. Where's your other friend?"

Kanda assumed that that the man was referring to Lavi, 'Like I call that guy my friend…' Then the man's face changed into realization which was a bit unexpected, it was like the man knew why he was here.

'If this guy knows why I am here…' Kanda put his hand on Mugen's hilt, ready to activate it if this man proved to be an akuma, 'I can ensure his death.' Akumas were after all beings that goes after exorcist as they have innocences and now Kanda was wearing an exorcist coat which gave out his identity as an exorcist willingly. Though Kanda didn't quite expect the next statement the man said.

"Are you lost?"

'Lost?!' Kanda frowned and his anger rise up again, his grip on Mugen tightened. Oh how much he wanted to slice this man up. 'What do I look like a kid?!'

Kanda was about to explain himself but unfortunately for Kanda, the man misunderstood Kanda's frown. Mana thought that Kanda was frowning because he was sad that he was lost. So Mana, being the clown he is, made a face that was usually for the kids to laugh at. What Mana didn't know was that Kanda is not a kid by heart, soul or appearance.

That was it, Kanda's temper was no longer containable.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" his voice was low and icy.

Mana was a bit surprised. His reaction was almost the same with Allen's when he made the same face during the death of one a dog which was beaten up by Cosimo, one of the performers.

"You shouldn't use such language here. Kids are mostly here you know." Mana scolded as he pointed his index finger towards Kanda.

"Hell, what kids?" Kanda replied smugly as the man looked around. "No one's here but a damn parrot."

Mana was much insulted by that statement. "What are you doing here kid?"

"I'm not a kid." Kanda gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I'm looking for someone."

"Oh?" Mana tilted his head to the side, "Then, you are lost."

"NO, I'm NOT!" Kanda barked, almost unsheathing Mugen but managed not to do so. "I'm fucking searching for someone!!!"

"Any way I can help finding him then?" Mana replied with a smile.

"Tch," Kanda scowled at the man. Finally, this man can be of use. "His name is Allen Walker."

Kanda saw the really shocked face of the man. Why was he so shock? Then a voice rang out from one of the rooms.

"!! Allen is performing now! You should see him go for it!"

Mana registered the voice as Lee's. Kanda raised his eyebrows. 'So, this man is related to the innocence user? No wonder he was surprised hearing his name.'

"Why do you want to see Allen?" Mana ignored Lee's invitation. Someone was looking for Allen and he needed to know why.

"It's none of your business." Kanda narrowed his eyes as he glared daggers at the man.

Kanda had enough information already. Now, all he had to do is wait until the boy had finished his performance. Call Lavi, bring the boy to the Black Order and mission accomplished. Kanda turned around and was about to leave and call Lavi when the man earlier grabbed his arm.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"It's none of your business." The navy-haired boy said as his eyes narrowed.

'How can it be not? Allen is my son – foster son – but still… he's my family.' Mana observed the boy in front of him and for the first time saw the sword he was carrying and also the Black Order's logo on his black coat. 'So, that was it.' Mana now knew the reason. 'He's an exorcist and the other guy must be his partner. The Black Order must have found out the innocence fragment on Allen's left hand.' There's no way Mana is letting Allen go like that not in the condition Allen was currently in.

When the exorcist was about to turn around and leave, Mana grabbed his arm.

"What do you want?" he snarled as he jerked his arm away.

"I'm not letting you to take Allen away." Mana said seriously. "Leave."

'This man knows about the Black Order?' Kanda thought, surprised by the new information about this man. 'If he knows about our existence then…'

"Who are you?" Kanda asked as he activated his innocence just in case. As he expected, the man didn't show any surprise at all when he saw the innocence.

"You are not taking my son away." Mana declared once again.

'His father, huh?' Kanda thought, then deciding whether to kill the man off as the man knows something that he shouldn't know. Besides, the man can be an obstacle to the mission. With that in mind, Kanda thrust his sword forward.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: This was rather long than the usual…. Oh well. Tell me how the story is going so far cause I have no clue if this is going well and I just remembered that I made this story on impulse so what happens next is surely a mystery to me.


	3. Hit and run

Another simple disclaimer.

**Chapter two**

**Hit and run**

As soon as the boy finished his performance, Lavi decided to meet him. As the next performance was about to start, Lavi stood up and left for the backstage. He doesn't need to continue observing the circus performance anymore, he had found their target in this mission anyway. Besides, something about the boy made Lavi kind of curious about him.

'Allen Walker…'

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Allen gave a bow as he left the platform. He was relief that his show went well, ignoring the fact that he was late of course. As Allen walked towards the back stage, he can't help but look around. 'Where was Mana?' The man wasn't anywhere near the stage. 'Mana didn't see my performance, then?' Allen was a bit sad by that thought. He was hoping Mana could watch him perform his first solo act. He wanted Mana to be proud of him.

Allen sighed as he reached the backstage where all the other performers were either watching the performance, preparing for their turn or just taking a break.

"Why the long face?" an ecstatic voice called out as Allen felt a smack from his back almost making his hat fall but Allen managed to hold the hat in place.

"Ree…" Allen said as he looked at boy who was always bugging him.

"Your performance went perfectly!" Lee came up to Allen with a grin, "Don't' worry about it!"

Allen let out another short sigh as the other two look at him confusingly.

"Where's Mana?" Allen simply replied.

The twins now knew why Allen was so crest-fallen. It wasn't about the performance, it was about the one that was suppose to watch the performance! Only one man can make this brunette brighten up as the shining sun or gloomy as death itself.

"Now that you mention it, I did called Mana that you were performing but I was too engrossed in watching you perform that I didn't realize that the he wasn't here," Lee told the other two as he put on a thoughtful look.

This statement seemed to make Allen more depressed and Ree gave his brother a sharp look. Allen was by now thinking in the lines of: Mana must have thought my performance sucks and couldn't bear to see such thing and left.

"Uh, Don't worry about it Allen!" Ree tried to cover up his brother's mistake, "Maybe Mana is just busy handling some kids that got lost or something." Allen looked at Ree with a sad expression making the twins want to wipe the frown off. 'Clowns shouldn't be frowning, damn it!' both boys thought.

Ree and Lee were about to say something more comforting when they heard someone yelling. The three of them, curious to who it was since the voice wasn't familiar at all turned their attention towards a red-haired adolescent wearing a black jacket, white trousers and orange scarf around his neck waving towards them. He didn't come from the back door, he must have walked beside the platform and jumped across the gate that separated the seats and backstage to be there.

As he came closer, they noticed that he was wearing an eye patch and only one green eye could be seen. The spectator –Allen, Ree and Lee assumed – was wearing a big grin on his face as he stopped in front of Allen.

"Wow. That was a heck of a performance!" the man commented towards Allen making the younger boy a bit flushed. "It was so entrancing and beautiful! That was the most enjoyable performance I ever had, Allen! Do, you mind if I call you that?" Allen just nodded. Lavi actually meant all those words even though it was part of the tactic to get closer to the boy.

"Uh… Thanks." Allen said feeling his cheeks getting warm. 'That's strange…' Allen thought to himself, the only time he feels all warm inside is when he was with Mana. Moreover, the red haired man actually commented on his performance and what he said was what Allen had hoped Mana would say to him.

"Hey! What about our performance?" Lee and Ree simultaneously complained a bit offended.

"huh?" Lavi turned to the twins. "Uh, yours were enjoyable too but I like his better." Lavi gestured towards Allen which made him blushed even more.

"Aww! No fair Allen!!" Ree playfully punched Allen's shoulder as he walked away and he was alter followed by Lee.

Allen just stared at the twins as they left him. 'What did they do THAT?!' Allen's mind screamed. They just left him alone with a stranger!! Allen looked towards the said stranger and gave him a warm smile. Mana once told me to always be nice to others when socializing.

"Don't be offended by their attitudes. They are always like that." Allen began.

"No worries. I've met someone whose way more rude!" the red haired stranger replied with a cheeky grin. Time to initiate the next tactic. "That really was incredible performance! I mean it. So, did you learn it everything by yourself?"

Allen's reaction wasn't what Lavi expected it to be. Lavi thought the boy would be happy to hear someone complimenting on his performance instead of being so, the boy looked down a small frown flickered across his features before looking back up at Lavi with a sad smile.

"My father was the one who taught me…" the boy began.

'Uh oh. Did I touch a sensitive subject? Don't tell me his father is no longer here!' Lavi tried to think of something comforting to say so that the boy won't be so down when he introduce him to Kanda.

"...but," Allen let out a sigh, "He didn't seem to be watching my performance just now. It was my first solo one too."

'Oh, so that was the reason.' Lavi mentally sighed in relief.

"Hey, Allen. Mind if I meet your dad? That is if he's here right now..." Lavi asked. It was better to meet with his father and explain to him that they are going to take his son away. It was much better than just kidnapping the boy and bringing him to the Order without any family member knowing about it. "So, how about it?"

The boy was surprised by the request but he accepted it. "Sure! I'm sure Mana would love to see you." Behind that sentence, Allen himself actually wanted to see Mana and ask him why he wasn't there to see his performance.

"I'll bring you there," Allen said as he began to walk forward so Lavi would follow him which he did. "Oh, I didn't believe I caught your name."

The red-haired exorcist just smiled. "It's Lavi."

"...just Lavi?"

"Lavi Junior Bookman actually but that's a title so I don't think it's considered a name."

"Ah." Allen nodded in false understanding. He didn't get this guy.

As Allen brought Lavi to the rooms where the performers usually slept, he checked Mana's room but he wasn't there. Thinking that Mana must still be outside, Allen headed to the place where the back stage door was located.

"Hey, aren't you feeling hot wearing such clothes?" Lavi asked out of the blue. "I mean, at least take the hat off."

Allen didn't stop walking and neither did Lavi. "uh, I can't." Allen lied. "We are not supposed to remove out costumes when the whole show haven't finished yet."

Lavi just nodded and Allen saw the corner turn where there would be a small room leading to the back door. Allen was a bit surprised himself, he didn't actually get lost this time. Not that he wanted to get lost considering a spectator was with him this time.

"Are you almost there?"

Allen nodded in confirmation as he pointed towards the corner, "Just a room to go."

When Allen turned around to say that to Lavi, he noticed the cross symbol on Lavi's jacket crest. Allen didn't have time to think about it as he heard voices coming from the room as he approached it.

'That's strange. Is Mana taking to someone? But all the troops are near the platform.' Allen thought to himself as he quickened his pace, his heart was suddenly unsettled. It was as if something was wrong and at that same time, the voices that he heard stopped. That made him even more uncomfortable.

"Allen, wait up!" a voice behind him pulled Allen out of his thoughts.

Allen turned around to see Lavi jogged lightly towards him. Allen didn't realize that he had broken to a run some time during the process.

"Man, why did you suddenly take off like that?" Lavi said as he neared Allen.

They were now in front of the door of the last room.

"Ah sorry…" Allen apologized as he opened the door of the room.

"So th-" Lavi stopped in his sentence as he looked at the scene in front of him. That was it. Kanda was definitely looking for trouble. 'Can't the guy just not act so harshly for once?' Lavi thought to himself.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Allen was frozen in shock. There, in front of his very own eyes, a navy haired man with long hair that was tied into a high pony tail was holding a dark sword threateningly against Mana's throat. Mana's throat!! Allen broke into a panic state as he ran towards the two people. Allen yelled something incoherent as he tried to push Mana away from the deathly looking sharp blade. However, nothing ever goes smoothly. As Allen pushed Mana away, his movements were clumsy and his left arm got scratched by the end of the blade. Allen hissed in pain as he fell beside Mana (who had also fallen to the floor when Allen pushed him) clutching his left arm.

"Allen!" Mana screamed in concern as he held Allen's injured arm.

Allen's left arm was now visible as the fabric of his sleeve had been torn off. The red scaly arm now clearly visibly along with the green glowing light of the embedded green cross that marked his innocence.

"He's the accommodator?" Kanda questioned, not impressed at all. "You've got to be joking."

"Yuu!" That particular name made Kanda turned towards the already-supposed-to-be-dead-long-ago exorcist as Kanda pointed his Mugen towards Lavi this time. "Now, Now Yuu… You shouldn't use force on ordinary citizens…"

Allen watched with a mixture of pain, confusion and horror. Pain because his left arm was aching horribly and now his head ache was starting to kick in again. Confusion due to the fact that Lavi seemed to know the attacker of his foster father quite well and that was a definitely when Allen spotted the same cross symbol on the attacker's black coat and lastly horror as somebody actually tried to kill Mana!!!

"I was only warning him," Kanda simply replied as he deactivated his innocence and turned at the small figure all dressed up like a jester. "Che. What a weak looking kid."

"What do you want with Mana?" Allen croaked out, afraid of the answer.

The dark-haired man shot Allen a glare. "That man is of no concern to us anymore."

'Us?' Allen thought confused before registering the fact again that Lavi was his accomplice.

"Sorry, Allen for wounding your arm." Lavi sincerely apologized. "We…" a glance at Kanda made Lavi changed his words, "I don't have any intentions to hurt your father… We just want to talk…"

Mana immediately stood up, much to Allen's surprise.

"Mana??"

"He's not coming with you." Mana stated with a strict voice. "Allen is not coming to the Black Order."

Allen was thoroughly confused. Lavi narrowed his eyes at the man in front of them. 'So, this man knows about the Order? Does that mean he knows about exorcists, innocences, akumas and the Earl too? No wonder Kanda attacked him with Mugen…'

Kanda just che-d again as he stepped closer towards Mana.

There was a sudden shaking of the ground as Allen tried his best to keep steady while the male he just met stood there with alerted looks as if they know what was coming. Allen looked at Mana's face and he had the same expression as the others.

'What's going on here?' Allen inwardly thought. Everything just seemed wrong.

The earth quake ceased. Cries and screams can be heard coming from the stage and as Allen turned to look at that direction, three weird looking creatures came crashing in the door. Allen's eyes widened.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Akuma." Lavi stated as he activated his innocence. It was no surprise at all.

Kanda too activated his innocence as he thrust towards the two level twos and one level one. Lavi extended his hammer, destroying the tent's fabric above them as the hammer's head came crashing down to one of the level twos.

"First illusion: Hell insects."

Dozens of white creature-like ghosts appeared and thrust forward towards the two akumas. Liberating one of them while the other akuma was only slightly injured.

"Exorcists…" the last standing akuma muttered as it opened its hands and threads of webs came out of it, tying both Kanda and Lavi together.

"Like hell I'm getting attached to this idiot." Kanda mumbled as he cut the thread off his body with Mugen in a second.

The akuma hissed in annoyance as thousands of small spiders came out from its hand. The spiders crawled all over the two exorcists. Lavi smashed the spiders that were in front of him but there were too many of them. Kanda let out a grunt of annoyance as he released more of the ghost insect like creatures this time. Nontheless, more spiders still came out.

"It's the hands! Cut the akuma's hands off!!" Lavi yelled towards Kanda over the screaming of the people that rushed away from the place as Lavi can see level ones floating high above them.

Lavi stood on the head of his hammer as he extended the stick higher before grabbing the handle of the hammer and destroying the level ones in the air. Meanwhile Kanda proceeded in killing the level two. Moving as swiftly as ever, Kanda used the hell insects to clear his pathway towards the level two and then dashed forward, slicing the level two's hands before it can release more of those eight-legged creatures. The level two was very much shocked, and then Kanda turned around making another swift movement with Mugen as the level two was easily sliced into half just like cutting a fruit.

An explosion occurred and Kanda looked up towards the sky where Lavi was finishing off the level ones. Deciding to let the rabbit handle the rest, Kanda deactivated his innocence and realized something. No, it wasn't the fact that his exorcist coat was mildly torn and that the spiders that was released had eaten his hair tie and now letting his hair fall loose. Nope, Kanda realized those facts instantly when it happened.

Kanda just glared at the empty floor where the moyashi and his foster father had been. This day was not boding well for Kanda… His mission seems to be a failure this time and Kanda can't accept such failures especially coming from himself.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Splashing of waters can be heard as Mana and Allen continued running. Mana was in front, dragging Allen along by his right arm since Mana can't exactly pull Allen's left injured arm. Allen can hear explosions coming from behind them, back at the circus. Allen was about to turn and have a look but Mana seemed to sense that Allen was going to do so.

"Don't turn around Allen." Mana commanded and Allen looked at man as his tired legs continued running, trying to keep pace with Mana.

"Mana! What about the others? Lee and Ree?" Allen asked back as he fought back the tears that were threatening to flow out. He was a clown and clowns aren't supposed to be sad. "Those monsters! The troop might be in danger!"

"Just keep on walking forward." Was Mana's only reply.

Allen didn't understand this at all. Why was Mana in a hurry? What's going on here? Allen thought of the events that just happened and a flash of a certain red and navy haired male picture came into mind. Who were they? Why did they want to hurt Mana? Then again the red head did say they didn't want to hurt Mana… So what did they want? Allen took another peek at Mana.

Back there, when those three monsters barged into the room, Mana had an expression that Allen had never seen before. Allen tried to stop himself from thinking too much but a last question managed to surface itself and it was the question that Allen feared most.

'Was Mana hiding something from him?' Allen tried to shake those thoughts off. 'Mana wouldn't. Mana trusted him… and he trusts Mana whole heartedly.' Allen wouldn't betray Mana and Mana wouldn't betray Allen.

A city came into view in front of them. It was an abandoned city. Allen recalled the circus troops passing the city when they were heading towards their performing location. The city was entirely deserted and no one dared to go in as a terrifying legend of the city's ghost lived on. However, Mana was heading towards that direction.

Allen was sure that they were going to hide there for a while.

'Wait… hide?' Allen's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Why did he say hide? What were they hiding from? Those monsters or those men? A wave of pain resonated through Allen's body and his legs gave away due to the sudden pain and fatigue.

Mana turned around instantly upon feeling Allen's arm slip out of his grip. Allen was now lying on top of the sand; his jester's hat fell to side showing the bloody bandages. Mana crouched near Allen as he noticed the blood on Allen's forehead. Mana dreaded that something like this would happen at a time as urgent as this.

"Allen!" Mana called out worriedly. "Allen!"

Mana watched as Allen's grayish-blue eyes looked at him. The light was slowly fading away from them. Mana wrapped his hands around Allen's back and picked him up. He needed to bring Allen to the city immediately. Out here in the desert, Allen couldn't possibly survive when night dawned.

As Mana walked quickly, this time cradling Allen in his arms, he felt a sift tug on his collar and looked down where Allen was looking at him. His eyes were pleading something as if wanting to tell Mana something.

"Hold on Allen… We are almost there." Mana wasn't being honest. The city was far from near.

The boy's arm that had been tugging Mana's collar fell limply towards his side. Mana widened his eyes but the rising and falling of the boy's chest made Mana calmed down a bit. Allen was just unconscious.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

'I'm being carried by Mana…'

Another wave of pain resonated through his body making Allen winced. The head ache was getting stronger but Allen tried to ignore them. Allen tried to pry open his eyes again and barely managed. He forced his right arm to move and slowly he pulled Mana's collar. Mana had left the parrot suit when they went out. It was a relief that Mana wore his usual clothes under the parrot suit.

Mana seemed to notice this and he glanced down at Allen. Concern was written all over his features. Allen stared into Mana's eyes. He wanted to ask Mana but his tongue was seemed to be frozen and his lips were sealed shut. Then another over whelming pain and fatigue struck his brain. His eyelids were closing and slowly his control over his right arm was gone leaving it hanging downwards.

'Mana… Tell me that everything is going to be fine…'

'Tell me that I can still trust you…'

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: *speechless* I… I can't believe this.

Zuenira: *mouth hanging wide open*

Azure: I actually finished typing a chapter which I have no idea what to write at all…

Zuenira: *still gaping*

Azure: I think I'm dreaming… My hands just moved of its own accord earlier… I better go to sleep…

Eh- before that, I was quite surprised that most of you thought Kanda was going to kill Mana earlier on… I mean, I'm making this story where Mana is still alive; to kill him at the first chapter is just pointless… I might kill him but not in the very beginning. That would just make Allen sad all over again. Kanda was just greatly annoyed back then, that's why he's acting harshly towards Mana… enough to think to kill him.

Ah, the city they are heading to, any ideas where it is? It's quite obvious I think.

Reviews are very much appreciated.


	4. Separation

Not owning anything related to this story.

**Chapter three**

**Separation**

Dozens of finders rushed about as the level one akumas began to invade the space they were in. Activating the barrier they tried their hardest to seal the akuma but another one came and after countless shots released by the akuma, bodies of finders scattered on the floor leaving only few survivors who managed to put their priority, which was the ghost of Mateel in a barrier safe for the moment from the level ones which were quickly advancing towards the source of innocence.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"You actually let the boy go Kanda?" Komui's voice sounded unbelieving. "Here I thought you would hurt him if he were to protest… Is Kanda actually getting soft?"

The unsheathing of Mugen can be heard as the innocent black golem was sliced in half. Static of leftover electricity can be heard after the golem hit the solid floor of the train compartment. Kanda's eye twitch in anger as he sent a glare to the other still living creature in the room when the other exorcist's golem sounded up.

"Calm down Yuu…" Lavi let his golem fly in between the both of them.

"Call me that again and you'll be joining that golem there," the samurai hissed, referring to the broken golem.

Lavi felt a bead of sweat down his cheek. His partner just che-d, deactivated his innocence and sat back down on the opposite seat, radiating a negative aura.

"Go on Komui," the junior bookman stated when Kanda's anger lowered down.

"That's a waste of golem, Kanda." Komui muttered before his voice turned serious. "Base on your report, the boy's father seems to know about the Order and existence of innocences and akumas?"

"He probably knows of the Earl too," Lavi added.

"I see." There was a pause as the silence hung in the air, "We'll search more on them and try to find their current location. They might know something we don't seeing they actually fled from us."

"Nah… I think they ran away cause they were intimidated by Yuu's-" the red head's sentence was cut off by an object thrown at him which he narrowly dodged.

Lavi looked at the said object; it was half of the golem that was cut earlier.

"The next one will surely hit you Baka Usagi."

The victim let out a nervous laugh.

"Excuse me~" Komui's voice rang from the golem, "Am I interrupting something??"

"Che, if you are done, I'm destroying this other golem too."

"Don't do that! I still have a mission to give to you two!" Komui quickly put in, "Since you are in Southern Italy now, it's convenient. Nearby, just on the next stop, you will get off and head to the city of Mateel. An innocence have been confirmed to be there and the akumas are already there too." Here, Komui stopped to regain his breath, "A finder will be there to assist you and put in more details on the next mission. Do hurry, we don't know how long until the akumas reach the innocence."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The abandoned city of Mateel. There were only ruins of buildings left. A man dressed in a white long sleeved shirt with a black vest was carrying a small brunette boy who appeared to be sleeping. He knew something was wrong the moment he heard the sounds of explosions. There were akumas here.

Searching for a safe place to hide was quite difficult considering most of the buildings are old and in the verge of collapsing any time if pressure were to be applied on them. The boy in his arms squirmed a bit and let out a soft groan. Mana didn't have to guess what was wrong as he can feel warm moisture dripping onto his hand. Allen was bleeding again. That was the fourth time that day.

'If I don't hurry and find a safe hiding place…' the grown up man didn't want to finish that thought. He needed to aid Allen quickly. His innocence and the Noah memories in him will tear the poor boy part if nothing was done.

Mana detected two level ones akuma hovering in front of them. He turned to the side and hid in the shadows for the moment. The akumas didn't seem to notice them as they continued forward, heading towards the place where the ghost of Mateel was contained. Letting out a relief sigh, the man leaned on the wall behind him.

His body was aching from tiredness. He had travelled a far distance in a short time carrying a boy too. It was normal for his body to act the way it was now. Gently putting the boy on the concrete floor in front of him, Mana sat down, still leaning against the wall. This wasn't the best place to hide or rest, they can easily be seen if the moon were uncovered by the clouds. However, the man didn't have any choice left. It was impossible to hide in this city unless there was some underground hiding place but this city had been abandoned for centuries and if there were to be one, how can Mana find it in his current condition?

His thoughts were interrupted when Allen stirred.

"Allen, are you awake?" Mana asked but no reply came. He looked at the fifteen year old boy who looked in a mess. His shirt was coated with blood and his left arm even made him bloodier looking with the hot red scales clearly visible as his left sleeve was torn earlier on. The bandage on his fore head was now fully covered with the crimson liquid.

"I need to find some spare bandages…"

'But where?' In this abandoned city, there isn't anything left in the buildings. Mana then recalled the finders. Most of them always bring a first aid kid and some supplies in their bags.

The clown waited for a few more moments to regain his energy. Then with all his strength he pulled the boy up, wrapped his left arm on the brunette's neck while his other arm supported the kid's front. He won't have enough energy to carry Allen the way he did before, so he had to drag the boy this time.

Mana looked forward. "Which direction should I go?"

That was when he saw an object zoomed passed the both of them. Since they were in the shadows, Mana can't tell what it was until the object zoomed again and this time, towards the man and the boy.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The full moon shone brightly at the night sky as its moonlight casts down upon two exorcists and a finder on the sandy land surrounding a ruined city.

"How many akumas are there?" Kanda went straight to the point as he made another leap forward.

"Three were reported, Master Kanda," the finder answered as he also made a jump forward.

The three figures were leaping towards the abandoned city which was slowly coming to view. They heard an explosion and saw smokes coming from a part of the city.

"I don't think they'll survive…" Lavi mumbled as the trio increased their pace towards the place where the explosion occurred.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

It was strange… The atmosphere was kind of light. It was as if the space around him was empty just like a mere vacuum. He strained his ears to hear any sound but they weren't any at all. Nothing.

Opening his grayish-blue eyes, Allen's eyes focused on the first image that he saw. A huge white crescent moon was hanging at the dark sky.

"Huh?" his voiced was loud at the place he was in, breaking the silence.

Still no sound was heard. The brunette stood up and started walking forward, following the path that had been laid out in front of him. As he strode forward, he realized that even his footsteps weren't making any sounds.

"Mana?" Allen called out once again.

The silence was deathly and it made the boy nervous for some reason. Why weren't there any sounds? Now that he thought about it, he can't even hear himself breathing or his heart beating. As the boy continued walking, he placed his right hand on his chest where his heart is. There wasn't any movement… No beating… No pulse at all.

"Am I dead?" the boy wondered, strangely he wasn't feeling panic or anything any normal person will do when they just found out they were dead. "So this is the afterlife?"

His question was left hanging in the air. A lake then came into view in front of him. It was quite huge in area. Allen slowly walked towards it and peered into the lake. What he saw was unexpected. The moon reflected on the lake was dark and creepy. Then he watched his own reflection.

"Is that… me?" Allen wasn't sure at the image that looked back at him.

This boy had white curly front bangs and across his left eye was a scar starting from the forehead which was shaped in an inverted pentacle. Allen was sure his hair was straight and he didn't have any scars on his face.

"...yet" the brunette's eyes widened when the voice rang. The voice was familiar…

Slowly, the reflection earlier turned into another face. A face that Allen recognize way too clearly.

"Mana!" Allen reached his left hand out into the water.

Before his hand can even touch the tip of the lake, Mana's image quickly disappeared and was replaced with a dark shadow face with hollow eyes and a grin too big. The shadow grabbed Allen's left wrist as the two stared into the other's eyes.

"You... You're that thing I saw back at the circus!"

The shadow's stretched his grin more, if that was even possible, as his grip of Allen tightened. The brunette winced in pain. Then he heard a melody.

'And the little boy falls asleep

Among the ashes in the flames shining….

First one, then two…'

His left hand feels as if it was burning. Allen wanted to scream but no sound came out. Tears streaked down his face as the pain intensified and to make matter worse, his head started to ache unbearably.

'A thousand dreams trickle back to the Earth

On the night when the silver eyes were trembling'

"Ma… na…" Allen called, 'help me Mana… It hurts so much…'

Then a sharp jerk came, Allen, taken by surprise was instantly pulled into the deep water. He struggled to be let go when he realized that his left hand was already free. Nothing was pulling him down and further more, he wasn't suffocating in the water.

Allen opened his eyes which he didn't realized he closed and realize he was falling in an empty dark void instead of sinking in the water. The pain earlier had also ceased.

'The shining you was born

Across million of years'

The melody however continued to echo in the empty space. The darkness that surrounded the brunette was shifting into something else. A white light came out of nowhere and merged with the darkness turning the space into a faint a gray.

'Let the prayers be return back to Earth'

Before Allen knew it, everything went black again.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Mana!"

The said man was startled to say the least when the boy suddenly woke up screaming his name. Mana turned towards the parasitic innocence user who was now in the state of hyperventilating.

"Calm down Allen…" the man tried to soothe his –foster- son.

The brunette was still having short breaths and Mana had to make the boy inhale and exhale deeply. After a few exhalations, the boy calmed down. Allen quickly turned to look at his father but his head got dizzy by the fast movement and he had to hold his head to steady his vision.

"Allen? What's wrong?"

The boy was feeling a bit nauseous and also – Allen took a look at his surroundings, they were no longer on the desert. 'Mana must have reached the city…' the brunette took in his new surroundings which were mostly ruins and on the concrete floor; there were some ashes covered with brown fabric lying about.

Then his eyes fell on a body. A body of a man wearing a brown coat that was familiar to the brown fabric that was nearby. Blood was seen pudding near the man's head. The boy's eyes widened at the sight.

"Ma…Ma… Mana…" Allen stuttered as he felt his body being pulled into an embrace, while two hands covered his eyes from the sight of the dead man.

Mana can feel the boy shaking in his grip. Allen must be horrified by now but at least he won't have to suffer anymore greater pain. He will still have those head aches at times but there won't be anymore unbearable pain coming to him temporarily.

"Allen. Listen to me carefully," he began, "I want you to just look at me when I remove my hands. Don't look at anything else, okay?" The boy went stiff for the moment.

Slowly then, Allen nodded. As quickly as Mana removed his hands, the boy turned around and buried his face in Mana's chest. His sobs were muffled but the adult can hear it just fine.

"Allen… What you saw just then was a finder," Mana started to explain as he stroked the boy's head gently. "He's part of an organization called the Black Order, the same organization that the two men we met wearing the black coats and the rose cross symbol belonged to."

This seemed to catch the boy's attention as he gazed up at the other with tear stained face. Mana gave a soft smile as he wiped some tears that were left near the boy's right eye. Allen started to rub his left eye too but a soft material prevents him from doing so. A bit surprised, Allen tried to look at his hand with his left eye but there wasn't any image at all.

"What…" Before Allen can ask Mana pulled the boy's chin up so that their eyes were locked with the other's.

"Your left eye was injured," Mana stated, "I've covered it up with some bandages and I also changed the bandages on your forehead too."

"How… How did you find new bandages?" Allen had to ask. They didn't bring anything at all with them when they ran off.

At that moment, a golden spherical object flew down and landed on Mana's shoulder. This object had a long tail and a pair of wings. Allen eyed it curiously.

"This is Timcanpy, Allen," Mana nudged his head to the side where the object was; "It's called a golem. A thing that can record things and restructure itself when destroyed." Allen continued to stare at it. "He led us to this place where there were bags full of first-aid kit and some fabrics were present."

Allen tore his gaze away from the golem and looked back at Mana. He wanted to tell Mana about the dream he had but something in Mana's statement before made him confused.

"Mana, how come my left eye is injured?"

A look of grief flashed across the man's face for a split second but split second was enough for Allen to see it.

"Mana?" the boy felt nauseous again. 'Was Mana really hiding something from him?' "Mana… Are you keeping something from me?"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Mana can feel his heart getting heavier by the second. He was unable to answer Allen's question, yet. He can't afford to let the poor boy know right now. It would be too much for him to handle. Silence ensued as Mana thought of the possibilities.

By the time, he had reached this place, finders had already been found dead and judging from Tim's recordings earlier on, the exorcists from before had arrived to the scene and was fighting a level two akuma who was currently in posses of the innocence. Mana wasn't sure if the exorcists were still engaged in battle but it was safer to be on alert and if there were any possibilities the two exorcists were to come across them again, Allen will surely be taken to the Order this time.

During the long silence, an explosion occurred right beneath the ground the two were on. The floor shook and cracked, Mana had to pull the boy away from the spot as the floor at the center gave in to the quake. A powerful blue light was emitted from newly made hole and after a few seconds faded into nothingness.

'That light…' Mana panicked. 'The exorcists were actually battling underground?'

"Mana, what was that?!" Allen yelled as his eyes stared at the hole.

"Allen! Be quiet." Mana instructed but it was too late.

The two exorcists had heard them. A hammer handle can be seen protruding out of the hole along with a navy-haired samurai and read headed adolescent holding on to the end.

Mana cursed lightly as he and Allen stood up.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Che. Who would have thought the innocence user actually fled to this city," Kanda muttered as he activated his innocence.

He gave the two people a morbid glare. "This time, I'm not letting you go."

Kanda shot forward, the tip of Mugen pointing at the man holding the boy. As expected, the man pushed the boy away and he himself dodged the attack. Kanda smirked at that.

"Oi. Baka Usagi, get the boy." Kanda ordered as he continued attacking the man, leading him far and further away from the boy.

"Planning to separate the father, eh? Not a bad plan, Kanda." Lavi said with a small grin at Kanda's idea. "Just don't hurt the man." Though, the red head knew that the samurai wasn't listening anymore.

The junior bookman deactivated his innocence, since he didn't want to intimidate the boy any more than they already did last time.

"Hey there, Allen,"

The brunette struggled to stand up before facing the exorcist. Lavi widened his eyes at the sight of the boy. His forehead and left eye was covered with bandages and his shirt was full of crimson dry blood.

'Was he injured that badly by the akuma?'

"Are you alright?" Lavi tried to strike up a conversation.

The boy however, seemed scared of him as he backed away a few steps.

"Hey… I'm not going to hurt you okay? I'm just here to take you -"

"I don't want to go away from Mana!" the brunette's out burst startled Lavi, Mana and Kanda.

Lavi was at lost on what to do. Should he just take the boy away forcefully? He was considering the idea right now.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Mana turned at the sound of Allen's shouting and the samurai in front of him also halted his actions. The other exorcist was gaining up on Allen! He could very well be trying to take Allen away that instant when this other exorcist was distancing him further from Allen.

There is no other choice and even of there was, Mana didn't have any time to think over it. Mana closed his eyes and concentrated on a spell.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Kanda flickered back to the man he was attacking when he started to mumble something.

"Oi. What the hell do you think you're doing?" the exorcist placed Mugen's edge on Mana's throat and out of the blue, something knock him on the side of his head making him fall sideways.

"What the fuck was that?!" grunted the navy-haired Japanese as the object flew away from him and towards the Lavi this time. 'A golem?'

Kanda stood up but winced as the cut on his stomach which was inflicted while fighting the level two akuma just before, started to pound again. He was losing too much blood and he moved too much for the cut to heal quickly. Kanda glanced again at the man who was now running towards the parasitic user.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"OW!"

Allen watched as Lavi hit the ground when the golem hit his head strongly. The said golem floated in front of Allen while a familiar figure. It was Mana!

"Mana! I -" Allen was cut off when Mana threw him a bag that was quite occupied with some stuff. "Mana, what's this?"

Allen looked up to his father who seemed to be in great pain but still wore a smile. Before Allen can utter a word, a white door appeared near him, surprising Allen.

"Go in, Allen!" Mana instructed. By now, Lavi was already standing back up to his feet. "Go!"

"But, Mana!" the boy wasn't given any chance to protest as the golem earlier hit Allen on the chest, forcing the breath out of the boy and due to the impact, made the boy leaned to the side and into the door which was opened by itself.

The last thing Allen saw before the door closes in front of him again was a samurai advancing towards his foster father from behind and also Lavi trying to go into the door to retrieve Allen.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Mana watched as Allen fell into the door and it started to close. He winced at the pain, unknown to Allen, when Mana was on his way here, he was injured when the impact from the akuma explosion made a certain building collapsed. Mana managed to swerve forward, saving Allen from any injuries but the man's legs were caught on some stones. He did manage to get the rocks off but with some major injuries.

'Allen…'

His legs gave out and Mana fell unconscious on the floor.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Kanda and Lavi stared at the man lying on the concrete floor then at the door that had just vanished into thin air.

"Well… that was strange." Lavi commented.

"You let the damn moyashi go, Baka."

Lavi grinned at Kanda, "I did? I thought you were the on who let this amen interfere."

The samurai glared at the rabbit. "Tch, we can just bring this guy in."

"He seems to know more and the door earlier…" the navy haired exorcist continued as he looked at the man, "Besides, he should know the exact location of that damn moyashi. Let's take him back to the Order."

"He might be interrogated by Central." Lavi stated, of course referring to the cruel and torturous way how Central handle things.

"Like I give a damn."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: There are two reasons why I'm updating this story. One, I feel like updating it. Two, I won't be updating this anytime sooner, that's for sure.

So, I guess all of you knew it was Mateel city. It was quite obvious. ^^" Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I made it a bit longer since as I said, I won't be updating this any time sooner.

Reviews are very much appreciated.


	5. Inevitable encounters

Disclaimer: Rightfully belongs to the owner who is NOT me.

Warnings: Mana torture on this chapter. (what was I thinking?) Though not so much, well, I'll be lying if I say Mana won't have any poisonous or major injuries on his body. So, I think you know what to expect.

**Chapter Four**

**Inevitable encounters**

The Black Order… Though some of the exorcists are quite friendly and easy-going but beyond those people, higher above, where even though their purpose of existence is to save humanity… lies some few people who are in higher ranks and have absolute power over the Order. These people are quite feared not of respect rather of intimidation. The one that the Black Order, where the earlier two exorcists, Kanda and Lavi are returning to which was located somewhere above a really high cliff, are intimidated of is a man called Malcolm C Leverrier. Infamously also known as the high-ranking, sweet maker, brushed shaped moustache bastard.

Now then, in Komui's office, a navy haired exorcist and a red head was holding a man who is sustaining a major injury on both his legs. The man by the name Mana considered that one of his ankles might just be sprained. With his hands being held down on his back by the samurai, the clown without disguise rose up his head to look at the man wearing a white beret, some of his curly dark violet locks sticking out from underneath. The said man's face was obscured by the high piles of papers in front of him. In fact, papers seemed to decorate the room, even as far as carpeting the floor.

Mana thought back to the recent event. By the time he was conscious he was on a boat, hands tied behind him. Since none of the exorcists were talking to him, Mana could only assume he will be taken to the Black Order, interrogated or even tortured. Now, he was being hold down in front of this bespectacled man. All Mana could do no was pray that Allen will be save, after all, he won't be telling these guys a thing of truth that may lead to where Allen is.

Though what came next was quite unexpected, not for Mana anyway…

"Thank goodness you guys came!!" exclaimed the supervisor in front of them as the piles of paper earlier scattered down, revealing a very unstable looking bespectacled man with tears streaking down his face. "I was caught up into this work for too long!! If you came any later, I might have died from…"

"Chief!!" at that moment, a brunette entered the room. Despite his not so old age, the man looked really tired of life and even his cheekbones were quite visible. Mana had to wonder, were the staffs even tortured that badly? Now, he was feeling a bit scared on the true torture for people who are treated as criminals like him.

Without realizing it, Mana was staring at the man with a bit horror and he actually gulped. Though, this didn't go unnoticed by the bookman apprentice. Lavi laughed at the implication the science team shows to the former clown.

"They are always as tired looking as this… It's a… uh…" Lavi scratched his left cheek with his index finger, "It's like a… condition. Yeah, a condition for being in the science department!"

"Are you even checking those papers chief?! There's a lot more pile coming in an hour!!" Reever yelled at the lazy supervisor Komui.

"I'm busy!! I have a…" Komui turned his head towards the other occupants in the room. 'The exorcists wouldn't make that quite good of a reason…' was the thought that crossed his mind. Then his gaze fell towards the stranger being held down by Kanda to the floor. "The exorcists just came back from a mission on retrieving an escaped parasitic user! I need to check up on him!" Apparently, Komui thought Mana was Allen.

"Ah?!" Reever turned to look at the said innocence user and after just a second glance at the man; he was pushed out by Komui. "Supervisor!!" and the door was closed right in front of his very face.

Komui let out a sigh. The room was filled with silence for a full whole minute. Kanda still with a scowl on his face, thinking, 'I'm wasting my time here.' Mana winced in pain, when the one holding him down suddenly increased the force on the grip on his hands. Lavi was silent as he kept thinking about the parasitic innocence user; something about him was odd… Lavi tried to focus on what at the image of the boy earlier he met was wrong but then Komui decided to break the silence.

"Okay!~" came the sing song voice which Kanda tried to ignore as the supervisor appeared in front of the trio and took a look at the captive. "It's nice to meet you! Allen Walker!" The man having a really strong sister-complex chirped.

"Komui, this is not him…" Lavi corrected as the other gave him a puzzled look.

"No? Then?"

"Che. He's the damn father that let the boy escaped through some fucking door that appeared out of hell," Kanda replied, glaring at the man since he was the one that caused the mission to be a pure failure which the samurai exorcist just can't accept.

"So, he's the one that knows about the Black Order?" Komui turned serious. Mana was startled at the quick sudden change of mood. From behind the spectacles, Komui narrowed his eyes at the clown in front of him as he lowered his head to the same level as the man. "How did you know about us? You even know about the innocence on your son's arm, am I correct?" Mana just gave a man a stone hard glare in return. "Then I can assume that all this time, you were hiding him from us. You even know about akumas. Are you an accomplice of the Earl by any chance? I broker maybe?"

Mana just remained silent as he continued glaring at Komui. No one said a thing. Well, not until the door of the room opened yet once again. Kanda turned around and so did Lavi while Komui just had to straighten himself up to see the unexpected visitor. Oh, if it isn't high-ranking, sweet maker, brushed shaped moustache bastard. Mana did not get a sight of him though since he was still being held to the floor.

"Supervisor Lee. I believe that your exorcists had found a suspected accomplice of the Earl?" came the gruff greet as the man entered the room followed by Howard Link.

"Inspector." Komui merely replied as Leverrier sat on the couch, Link standing beside him. "There's nothing that get past with you knowing, is there?"

Mana managed to turn his head to the side, though it was painful doing so, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw a tall man who had a mustache the shape of a thin brush accompanied with a much younger looking man with two dots on his forehead. The thing that doubled Mana's guard against him was the wolfish smirk that was plastered onto his face and also the way those eyes glint with malice.

Catching the captive's gaze, the inspector looked down at him. "So, tell us where the Earl is residing."

Lavi narrowed his eye along with Kanda. Though Kanda didn't care about the fate of the father of the innocence user, he absolutely loath the inspector the most. In Lavi's case, he really didn't believe that the Allen's father is in cahoots with the Earl since he was attacked by the akuma too. However, Lavi can't oppose about a thing right now, Leverrier will just disregard it or make some excuses.

"Inspector, this is under our jurisdiction, if you may…"

"Central had made it clear that if there's any case relevant directly to the Earl, it would be under Central's case. NO matter how insignificant it is. Considering how this man knows about us, best presumed in a wide extent and how he hid and let the boy escaped from our grasp, he has to be an enemy of the Black Order." This time the young man standing with the long braid, interrupted Komui, "And as we all know, the Black Order organization's enemy is none other than those who are at the Millennium Earl's side."

Komui just gritted his teeth while Mana just turned away from the man and looking back in front. He expected to be interrogated now.

"I just hope Allen will be alright…" Mana mumbled softly that no one on the room was able to hear. The other five men in the room were still talking but the clown tuned their voices out as he thought about Allen. The memories of the Noah will take a great effect on Allen's body considering he even has the innocence as a part of him.

At times, Mana was glad that Allen had the innocence as the innocence joined both his and the boy's path together. However, at times, he really hated the innocence the brunette boy had. Due to that weapon, Allen had suffered a horrible life, casted away from his family and society alike and now… the innocence might just be the cause of the boy's death. If only he could…

A sharp jerk from the navy-haired exorcist pulled Mana out of his thoughts as now; he was currently standing and was pushed around to face the Inspector. Mana hadn't realized that their conversation was over but he did realize the looks of dislike on the exorcists and supervisor's faces.

"Mana Walker. Are you willing to cooperate with us and tell where the Earl is?" the enquiry was literally dripping with venom, coming from Leverrier's mouth.

"I'm not on the Earl's side, nor am I on yours." Mana stated meeting the irritated look on the other's eyes. His answer certainly displeased the man.

"Heh. Very well, then. Link, lock this man at the chamber." the man's lips twitched up to a wicked smirk that Mana shivered a little, "Let him stay there for a week then we can release him."

'No interrogation?' Mana was puzzled, 'But what is this chamber? Will he be locked up without any food or drinks for a week? If that is so… the torture was much at the same level Mana anticipated just without the interrogation part.'

Though what Mana thought was wrong since he failed to notice the distressed looks on the other three occupants in the room standing behind him. Link proceeded to take Mana away from Kanda's lock and he left the room without the inspector this time.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Back in the room, after the two had left, Komui spoke.

"Inspector, what if he was just merely a civilian and not on the Earl's side?" Komui's voice was monotone since he was trying to push down his anger.

"Whether or not he's on the Earl's side, if anyone were to know that much about the Black Order, it would surely be disadvantageous. He might just decide to turn to the Earl one day." Malcolm stood up and prepared himself to leave.

"But to send him to the chambers! The maximum time limit there is only less than twenty four hours! The longest one can survive there is only for three days and that person was an exorcist! Even more, by the time he was released, he was barely alive!" Komui continued, this time some anger managed to leak out.

'Komui…' Lavi just stood as a spectator, observing, since that's what he was suppose to do. Observe and record.

"Well, then we won't have any problems regarding that man in the future, well now?" Leverrier smirked.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"MANA!! MANA!!" Allen banged at the white wall where the door was before it disappeared. However, the door didn't reappear back. Neither did Mana. Allen continued hitting the door as hard as he could.

'Why?! Why?!' Tears were streaking down the brunette's face. He smacked the wall with his left arm but the wall remained firm. 'Why?!' His arms were sore but he can't stop now. Mana was in trouble!! Normally, his deformed arm was strong enough to break things like the time when Mana didn't want to give Allen his food back and Allen, out of hunger and anger, broke a piece of metal from a nearby empty cage to intimidate Mana. But now, the wall won't even break!!

Finally Allen stopped hitting the door, his energy was decreasing. His fists slide down the smooth wall that didn't have the slightest trace of force on it, tears staining his pale face. The boy sobbed uncontrollably.

"Ma..na…" Allen choked out, "Why? Why didn't you follow me??"

A few moments had passed and Allen's sob was reduced into a whimper. Was he running out of tears? He can't tell. The brunette wiped the tears on his face but the tears just kept on flowing. He didn't move from his spot. He just stared down at the white tiled floor. His tears dripping down on to the tiles.

Allen stared at the tears and dripped down. He wasn't sure what to do. What to think. Why did Mana just let him go like that? Why didn't Mana follow him? Something took the boy's attention. The drops of crystal tears that had formed a small puddle on the tile were now mixed with a crimson liquid. Allen widened his eyes. He reached up to his face and felt a sticky liquid flowing down his left cheek. Furthermore, the bandage that covered his left side of his face had loosened.

Did the blood came from his left eye? Slowly and shakily, his hands unraveled the bandages. The bandages were not soaked with blood, just stained with some streaks and drops of the crimson liquid. Allen let out a sigh, convinced that his left eye was not the one that is bleeding. Now back to the main question. What was bleeding?

Then Allen felt a sharp pain on his forehead. Allen winced as he put both his hands on the side of his head, trying to suppress the pain. Just like before! His forehead must be bleeding again. Allen but his bottom lip, an action to hold the pain back.

The parasitic innocence user realized… He can't handle this alone.

"Ma…na… help me…." The host for the fourteenth Noah collapsed to the ground, the pain was too unbearable and Allen fainted.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

His vision was blurry, a golden object. Something yellow was in front of him. Was it a banana? Apparently, the boy was now hungry. He reached his right arm out to the object but instead he touched a soft fabric.

'Wh..wha?' The golden object appeared again this time closer to the fabric that Allen was now holding. The fabric was moved and a smell drifted out of it. 'This smells like…' Allen's head jerked up as both his hands reached towards the source of the delicious (to Allen) aroma.

"FOOD!!" True enough there were several loafs of bread and bottles of milk on the floor coming out from a leathered bag. Allen didn't waste time as he ate the food quickly. Not even a minute later, there wasn't even a crumb left and all the bottles were clean from any traces of milk.

The boy was now satisfied. Allen smiled with satisfaction.

"That was delicious, Mana!" the brunette turned around but no one was in the white room. Then it dawned on him. He was alone in here. He must have fainted when the headache got worst. But then where did the food come from? Allen gazed back at the empty bottles and among them, there was a brown bag. Allen reached out for it and inspected the contents. It was empty aside from a roll of bandages.

Allen recalled the moment when his father threw him that bag. Tears were now forming again.

"Mana…" How long had it been? It felt like an eternity to the boy. Allen was about to sob again when a spherical object floated in front of him. The boy blinked the tears out of his eyes to get a clear view. It was the golem Mana showed him.

"Tim…canpy?" Allen called out the name, unsure if it could understand him or not. Apparently it does as it neared the brunette and settled on his lap. The boy smiled weakly. This was the only thing he had before Mana disappeared and as Allen recalled, the golem also saved Mana's and his life back there. The brunette pulled the boy closer to his chest as a form of hug; tears were streaking down his cheeks again.

"Thank... you…" Why he said that, Allen was not sure. But now he needs to find out, what exactly happened to his father. He needs to find him, he needs to find Mana! Something crossed his mind just then. What if Mana was killed by them? A scene of a body lying in a puddle of blood. The scene that Allen saw when he woke up after that strange dream…

Allen ferociously shook his head in denial. 'Mana isn't dead. He can't be!' but those words didn't even convince him one bit. With that, his sobs continued.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

A girl with spiky blue hair carrying an umbrella with a pumpkin as the head along with a Portuguese man dressed in a gentlemanly suit, were walking down the streets of the ark.

"Ne, Tyki?" the girl spoke with a giggly voice, she was referring to the handsome man beside her. "Are you going back to those human friends of yours, right after dinner??"

The man tugged his top hat down, adjusting it, as his curly black locks fall perfectly against his shoulders. "Probably." Though it might be a high chance since if he stayed longer, Rhode will be pestering him.

The girl, Rhode seemed to sense his thoughts and pouted. "Aww! Are you thinking of abandoning me??"

The Noah of Pleasure was about to answer but then stopped in his tracks and so did the girl beside him.

"Lero~ Why did you stop Lero~?" the umbrella asked at the sudden halt.

"Shut up for a while." The reply from the tall man immediately silenced the umbrella.

There it was. The hearing senses of the Noahs were extremely sharp and they were sure they heard it right. Strangled sobs. Somebody was crying. No, more like, someone beside the Noahs and akumas were in the ark!

"Rhode."

"It's coming from the building there," the girl pointed towards a white tall building that was a few meters away from them, with the umbrella earlier. The girl's lips twitched up into a playful grin. "Wonder who could it be?"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Allen's head jerked up and he turned towards the door that he didn't realize was there. A girl younger than him with spiky dark blue hair wearing a skirt with stripped stockings twirling an umbrella with her finger and a man that looked like a noble to Allen was standing at the door staring at him with smiles that Allen can't really register as what.

"Good morning, boy." The tall man greeted him.

Allen sniffed and wiped some of his tears of his face, thinking: I'm not alone here? He was never alone there? The brunette just stared as the two scanned the room, pausing for a moment at the bandage from his left eye and the dried blood mixed with tears stained on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked this time.

"I…" before Allen can finish his sentence; the man with curly hair was crouching in front of him in a blink of an eye. Allen widened his eyes in shock but he didn't move. He just clenched Timcanpy tighter. The man traced something from at his left cheek up to his left eye.

"That's an unusual curse you have, boy." Allen was confused at that statement, what curse? The Portuguese in front of him smirked as he tugged in the bandages covering the boy's forehead, "Let me see where it ends." In one swift motion, the bandage was off from Allen's forehead.

This time, the two strangers were the ones who are staring at him with wide eyes.

"Wha… what's wrong?" Allen stuttered nervously.

Then the girl shrieked and ran towards him. The brunette didn't know what to do as she threw herself at him. Resulting in Allen lying at the floor seething in pain and a really enthusiastic looking girl on top of him.

"Yay! A new brother!!"

"B…brother?" Now Allen was thoroughly confused. He was so puzzled at the sudden event that his thoughts of Mana in trouble were forgotten for a while. Though that may be for the better at this kind of situations.

"Say boy, do you want to join for a dinner?" the man invited.

At the mention of dinner, Allen perked up, a smile on his face as he sat straight up, Rhode falling off him.

"Can I?" Allen looked at the man with teary eyes and his hands were clamped together in front of him.

'Dear Earl… this boy looks so innocent.' That was the thought that surely crossed the others mind.

"Sure you can!" the girl was the one who answered the question as she stood up and smiled childishly in front of the brunette. "You are a part of the family!"

"Fa-family?" Allen wasn't sure what to react with that, maybe they mistaken him for someone else? "I'm sorry, but you must have the wrong person. The only family I have is Mana…" his voice trailed off as his recalled the events again. His grayish orbs saddened at the thought.

"What's wrong, boy?" Tyki sensed the change of mood.

"It's just that…" Tears were now rolling down Allen's cheeks again. "I.. I don't know what happened to my father… We were attacked by some men with black uniforms… Mana said they were a part from the Black order and was trying to take me away and now… Mana is captured because of me…" Allen looked down, his bangs covering his eyes.

At the mention of Black Order, both Noahs reacted. So, the exorcists knew about his awakening already?

"Don't worry!" Rhode gave the boy a reassuring touch on the shoulder and beamed at Allen. The boy looked up at her with tear stained face, "You are a part of our family now! The Noah family! I'm Rhode Camelot!"

"No-Noah family?"

"I'm Tyki Mikk," the tall man introduced himself and took off his top hat and rests it against his chest as a sigh of customary introduction. Allen gazed at the line of crosses on the man's forehead. Tyki seemed to notice this as he pointed his hand towards the crosses with a smile, "See? I have the same line of crosses as you."

"These marks shows that we are family!" Rhode enthusiastically cried out loud as Allen shifted his gaze towards her, a bit taken aback when her skin ashen and her eyes turned a deep golden. Also, the marks were also lining her forehead too.

"But… I don't have those marks!" Allen argued, a bit shock at the strange phenomenon going on.

"Eh? How do you explain this then?" Tyki pulled out a mirror out of nowhere and made the boy see his own reflection.

"No way…" Allen felt his body shaking as he himself witnessed the sight. So that was why Mana covered his forehead but how did Mana know?? What was going on here? Then the boy looked at his left eye, there lining his left face was a scar. An inverted pentagon on his forehead clashing with the crosses then goes down his ;eft cheek "I… I'm not sure who I am anymore."

"Hmm? You didn't forget your name, did you?" Rhode was surprised.

Allen shook his head lightly, as he tore his gaze away from the face he didn't recognize as his anymore. "That's not what I meant…"

Now the Noahs are confused. The boy was sure a strange thing. They surely need to take him to the Earl for a checkup.

"Say, let's go to dinner now, eh boy?" Tyki asked, Rhode nodding a bit to aggressively in agreement.

Allen looked at them. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, where he was and now, he wasn't sure of himself anymore. The golem on his hand fluttered a bit. However, Allen had decided. He gave the two Noahs a smile.

"Allen. My name's Allen Walker." Mana told him to keep on walking and so that is what he will do. He'll keep on walking for Mana's sake. That is what Allen swore now.

"Then, let's go Allen!" Rhode took hold of his hand and dragged him along.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Two days had passed. Mana couldn't take it anymore as he lie at the stone cold floor. Cuts were practically covering his body and his clothes were badly torn up. One can see bite marks from snakes on his legs and also attack marks from knives and other sharp objects on his body.

The room was stained with Mana's blood. Ever single hour, either thousands of snakes were thrown into the room or a pack of wolves. If not animals, an executioner, or at least Mana assume as an executioner, entered and kept slashing him with either a sword or some other sharp objects. It was pure hell.

His voice had gotten hoarse and his body was weak. He himself wasn't sure how he survived that long. The door creaked open. Was it an hour already since then? Mana opened his left eye; his right one was badly injured. A man in a black cloak stepped in. The room was slowly filled with the smell of tobacco. A body that Mana recognize as the man that kept slashing him every single hour or so was thrown in the middle of the room by a scarlet haired man. It seemed the executioner was either unconscious or killed but Mna can guess it was the latter if it were to be that man's doing.

"You look like crap." The man merely said as a song played. The voice of a woman was heard in the room.

Maria. Even after so long, Mana still remembered that name, even after that parasitic innocence user had died.

"Cross…"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: This is the longest chapter I have ever written. Now, if you don't mind, please click the review button…


	6. Am I still Allen?

Disclaimer: Not owning DGM which had recently come out and will be on hiatus for another 2.5 months. *sighs* and have you seen what Tyki and the other Noahs were wearing in the latest chapter? Hell, the collar (if it can be called that) stretches till the abdomen… Zuenira was shrieking at the sight of the hot Tyki wearing that clothing.

**Chapter Five**

**Am I still **_**Allen**_**?**

The brunette boy just sat at the side of the table in between Rhode and Tyki, quietly. The dining room he was in was quite extravagance if not creepy. The light illuminating the room was from the burning candles situated on the dining table and also at the sides of the walls. Allen can't help but feel the stares coming from the other occupants of the room. The boy shudder a bit as he looked down on his lap where his hands were shaking with fright and lack of nutrition.

He thought the so called Noah family was a really prestigious noble family full of grace and all that nobility stuffs. However, this family was seriously lacking the gentle, grace thing. Why did Allen say that? Well…

"Tyki!! Who the hell is this kid!!?" one of the Noah family with dark blue hair, a male Allen noted, yelled while pointing a gun towards the said boy.

"Earl will be angry at Tyki, hee…" another, a blonde male with long hair who is sitting near the dark haired teen earlier continued as he too pointed a golden small gun at Allen.

Being just a fourteen year old boy, with no experience in this kind of things, since Mana was always there for him and even at threatening situations, Allen never had been pointed at with a gun before, naturally, the boy was scared. The brunette eyes widened in shock at the sight of the gun and he cowered back at his seat. Seeing this reaction, the twins laughed and was about to tease the boy further but was halted by another outburst.

"This is NOT sweet at ALL!!!" yelled another family member who had the biggest built of all in the room as Allen watched him threw an egg towards one of the maids nearby. The other thing that Allen found creepy about this place was the servants working under them. All of them looked so lifeless and doll-like, their eyes were blank and some even had a pentagon at the center of their forehead.

"It's an egg…" the tall man, Tyki as he introduced himself to Allen earlier, muttered.

Allen stared, horrified as the man with tan skin and no pupils at all punched the maid in anger. The maid didn't budge nor response as the man continued to beat her up. The Parasitic innocence user looked towards at the others in the room, expecting them to stop the big man but they just continued doing whatever business they were doing as if there was nothing wrong at all. So, the brunette just continued to fearfully watch as the man beat the maid up.

He wanted to help the poor maid, but Allen himself was scared, then as the boy stared at the maid, something else came to his vision. Something that Allen wished he had not seen. There was some sort of skeleton enveloped by something dark coming out from the maid, chained at its body. The boy's eyes widened even further as the said skeleton seemed to have realized that Allen can see it.

"He-hel-help me…" it begged towards Allen as impossible tears formed at the sockets where the eyes were supposed to be.

"H-how?" Allen stuttered in fright. He wanted to help but he's just too powerless just like back then when Mana – Tears formed in the boy's eyes too as he recalled his father.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Tyki raised an eyebrow at the boy beside him when he spoke. The brunette seemed to be petrified by Skin beating up the maid or is he? 'No…' Tyki decided as horror filled the eyes of the young boy. 'He saw something else.' And as if to show that what Tyki assumed was right, the boy's left eye turned from those grayish orbs into a dark one as his pupils turned red. Before Tyki have the time to react, the boy jumped out of his seat, advancing towards Skin.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Kill me… Destroy me with your innocence…" it pleaded, soon after followed by a shriek as tears ran down his bony cheeks, when the huge man delivered a strong blow towards the maid.

Allen felt his heart skipped a beat when the skeleton asked for Allen to kill it. 'I-I can't do that!!' However, his left eye throbbed not a second later. The boy winced at the sudden pain which was followed by a sudden impulse to want to help the skeleton.

Without thinking twice, Allen's body moved on his own. He leaped out of his seat, on top of the dining table earning surprise gasps from the other Noah members in the room. The boy himself didn't know why he did what he did but there is just one thing that kept beating in the boy's mind as Skin held his hand high above, ready to reduce the akuma into ashes.

"Stop!" and with a blink of an eye, Allen's left hand activated and the green light of the innocence glowed in the room as the claw hand reached for the maid's body, Skin thrown off to the side as Allen's claw ripped the akuma apart.

Allen watched with tear filled eyes as he saw the soul of the akuma got released from the chains and the skeleton slowly faded to an image of a young woman with curly dark hair.

"Thank… you…" the woman smiled at the brunette while he just stared as the young soul of the female floated up and disappeared towards the afterlife.

The boy blinked the tears out of his eyes as he turned his gaze towards his deformed left arm, now in the shape of a large claw like mechanism. The cross jewel embedded on the top of his palm glowing bright green.

"An exorcist… Is that the reason the Order was searching for you… boy?" a voice asked from behind followed by an invading feeling on the brunette's chest.

Allen looked down and saw a hand coming out from his chest, where his heart was located. For a moment, he can't breathe for he thought his life had ended but there was nothing, no pain at all. The cursed boy turned around slowly to meet golden eyes of the Noah of Pleasure.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"This is interesting… A Noah who is also an exorcist," The brunette did not understand what the tall man meant by that. However, the wicked smirk plastered to his face was sure scaring the hell out of him. "This would prove to be troublesome…" At that moment, the only girl there crouched near Tyki and Allen.

She inspected the parasitic innocence and then touched it, a jolt of electricity occurred as Rhode quickly pulled her hand away from the innocence. She looked at the scratch inflicted by the innocence.

"Oi!!! You shouldn't just touch an innocence like that!!" Devitto, the dark haired male earlier shouted.

"That is an idiot move… hee!" his twin, Jasdero followed.

Rhode glared at the two of them. "I can handle myself."

"So, what should we do, Rhode?" Tyki asked, not looking at the boy anymore, "He is a Noah but the innocence he possess could prove to be troublesome… Not to mention of Earl-"

"I'm sorry I'm late~" the sing song voice of the Earl of Millennium rang as the fat man came into view.

Speaking of the devil himself. The Earl watched from behind his glasses. From his point of view: Rhode had brought a toy back home (Note: toy = exorcist = Allen), Tyki was helping her to restrain the exorcist who tried to escape by attacking Skin which explains the Noah of Wrath lying on the side of a destroyed wall and Jasdevi was angry that Rhode didn't let them play with the exorcist.

"Rhode~ I thought I told you not to bring your toy during dinner~" the Earl reminded as he pointed his finger disapprovingly towards the first Noah.

Rhode pouted. "He's not a toy Earl!! He's a new family member!" She gave the Earl a smile as she pushed Allen's bangs away to reveal the mark of the Noahs. "See?"

The Millennium Earl was surprised, "A Noah?"

Tyki nodded. "Should we destroy the innocence?"

"Tyki pet. That's an obvious question, ne?"

The tall man sweat dropped at the nick name. Nevertheless, he removed his hand from the boy's chest and when he did, he can feel the boy tensed.

"Now, don't worry. We are just going to remove the innocence implanted in your left arm, okay?" That creepy grin again. The brunette shivered under those gaze as the Noah of pleasure placed his hand on the boy's left arm.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

A high pitched scream erupted in the room as the dark matter ripped the Allen's left arm from its socket. The young boy's heart raced as blood flowed out from the place where his arm was ripped off. His breath was quick and he can feel the pain pulsing in his body, to make matters worse, the headache decided to strike at that time too.

Under all those pressure, his scream continued until it died in his throat, running out of breath. His vision became blurry and his world darkened.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The boy fell limp in his hands. The Noah of Pleasure let him be as he threw the green innocence fragment towards the Earl. With Relo, the Earl of Millennium hit the innocence and it shattered into dust.

"You should have done that at some other time or place, Tyki pet. Look, the dining room is dirty now." The Earl said as he adjusted his hat. "Oh well~ Dinner will just have to be reschedule. Now, let the boy rest. I'll inspect him later in your room, Tyki pet."

The Noah of Pleasure stood up, 'so much for returning back to Eaze and the others as soon as dinner is over…' eh thought as he carried the unconscious boy out of the room.

"Ne Earl! Can't Allen be in my room?" Rhode pouted as she crossed her arms.

"No. A young man can't be in a ladies room."

"Aww~"

"But you can take care of him in Tyki's room if you want," Earl relented and this earned him a peck on the cheek by a giggling Rhode.

"Thank you, Earl!!" the Noah of Dreams called out as she skipped out of the room.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

When he woke up, he wasn't sure where he was. He can feel that he was lying on something soft and also covered by something warm. Allen scanned around the room and saw that the room had shelves of books, the decoration of the room was breath taking if not creepy just like the dining room he was in.

"Ma…na…?" Allen called out but no one answered. He turned to his right and that side of the room was a bit blurry, upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a mist. The mist was circulating at the right side of the room and it seemed to be getting closer to the boy.

Something about the mist seemed familiar to the boy as he stared at it. Then as if to show what it was, the mist or rather the particles of innocence that had been destroyed, shaped itself into an object and for a split second, Allen saw a silvery mask in the mist.

"What…" His head throbbed in pain as his left eye ached. "Ah!"

At the cry of pain coming from the boy, the mist flew towards the boy and now was surrounding the young Noah.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Mana woke up in a rather awful time. The sight he saw made him the blood rushed to his cheeks.

"Marian!" the man shouted as he averted his gaze from the General who was making out with a blonde woman at the couch near by the bed Mana was in.

"You finally woke up," the General replied without the slightest hint of embarrassment but the lady he was with blushed and quickly stood up.

"I-I have to go and help my brother now." She saw as she scurried out of the room.

"Tch." Cross took out a cigarette and lit it before turning towards the other occupant in the room. "What the hell did you do that made the Order capture you?"

At that memory, the man turned towards Cross with a serious expression. "They found out about Allen."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The Earl had just ended his call with one of the brokers when Rhode came in uninvitingly.

"Earl!!" she said with a playful grin as she hugged the man. "The innocence restored itself in Allen's left arm!!"

"What?" the Earl was stunned by the news as Rhode continued clinging at the man.

"I know!! Tyki is with him now, in case anything happen!! But the Allen is still unconscious…" Rhode continued and now, she released her grip from Earl Millennium. "You should check him, Earl!"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Tyki watched as Rhode ran out of the room, without even bothering to close the doors. With a sigh, the man stood up and closed the doors. As soon as the doors were closed he heard the boy shifted from his position. The Noah of Pleasure turned around and saw the boy sat up, his now white hair was in a mess. The Noah of Pleasure was a bit surprised when Rhode and himself entered the room to discover the unconscious boy yesterday now looked so different. Other than the white hair and the left arm that restored itself much to the Noahs surprise, the boy had also already gained the ashen skin of the Noah and also the golden orbs when Tyki inspected him earlier on.

The boy didn't seemed to notice Tyki as he turned towards his left where there was a small table with a mirror on it and when the boy landed his eyes on his own reflection, he looked shock. Tyki understood why the boy was surprised seeing himself looking different from before must be something.

"Boy?" the Noah of Pleasure asked as he advanced towards the boy who was startled by the presence of another Noah.

Shakily, Allen gripped the sheets that covered him and pulled it upwards to cover his entire body as if afraid that Tyki would pass his hand through his chest again. Tyki giggled in amusement.

"No worries, boy. It seemed your left arm recovered itself even after I destroyed it." The Noah pointed out as the boy looked at the said left arm which was now dark black instead of red. "You are one lucky-"

"Why?" Tyki paused at the sudden voicing out of the young Noah. "Why is it different?" Not wanting to disturb the boy thoughts or whatever state he was in now, Tyki remained silently as Allen continued.

"My face is not the same…" At this Allen recalled the scar that ran across his left eye down to his left side of the face and also the line of crosses across his forehead. "My eyes are not the same…" Tyki presumed the boy was referring to the golden orbs he now possessed. "My hair… the appearance I bear now…" The boy grip on the blanket tightened as tears strolled down his cheeks. "Even my arm changed!" A sob escaped the boy's throat as he continued. "Am I… still Allen Walker?!"

"Of course you are." Tyki and Allen were surprised as they turned towards the door where the Earl and Rhode were standing. They both didn't realize the others entrance to the room.

The Earl stepped slowly towards the newest Noah on the bed, "You are still Allen Walker but your body and existence had changed into something more higher than a normal human." The white hair boy watched as the Earl's grin grew wider. "You are now a part of the Noah Family. A unique human who is above other mortals."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"You what?!" The General shouted at the man his he stood up at the shocking information he just heard. Mana had just explained what happened in the Mateel City and Marian Cross was not so happy when he heard the man had transferred Allen to one of the ark rooms. "Do you know that was a stupid move?" The general let out a sigh of irritation as he sat back down on the couch.

"What is so bad about it? The ark was sealed in Edo by my brother, wasn't it?"

"That is true but it was just sealed. You didn't really concentrate when he was explaining it, huh?" Cross gave his I know it all look towards Mana who just laughed nervously like the clown he is. At that reaction, Cross let out another annoyed sigh. "This is not good. You know, Allen might be in the hands of the Noah by now."

"What? But the ark was sealed!!"

"It was sealed so that it won't be moving away from Edo but it still can be used, idiot. The Noahs are still using its abilities…"

"Then, Allen is-" Mana sat up from the bed he was in and tried to stand up but fell back down on the bed when his legs couldn't handle the sudden pressure.

"Slow down. Don't jump to conclusions and stop being so reckless or you'll end up like your brother." Cross warned. "The brat might still be safe but you won't be going there to check him with the injuries you still have. We'll have to wait for you to heal first."

"No! Allen might be in danger because of me again and that wo-" Mana stopped when he saw the general standing up holding a black hammer at his right hand. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Marian Cross advanced towards the man with a glint in his eyes. "Stop being so stubborn and rest." Witht hat he swung the hammer and hit the man on the head, rendering him unconscious. "Tch. Troublesome."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

At the Black Order HQ, it was a bit hectic when they found out that Mana Walker had escaped. As the staffs searched for any clues or sights of the man, the junior bookman just watched from above the rooftop the tower. With his one green eye, he observed Leverrier fuming around the entrance of the Order.

The apprentice bookman knew something that they did not. At that, Lavi thought back to the time when he was paying a visit to Allen's father to ask him a few question, even though he was in the Chambers. No, that was wrong, Lavi came to see Mana Walker when he was still in the Chambers because he knew that the man won't last a week in that place and Lavi needed the answer to his questions from a living man.

However, by the time Lavi had reached the corner of the Chamber, he heard noises. The red head silently watched from the far corner to see what was going on and to his surprise he saw General Cross punching the man responsible for guarding the Chamber. The guard went unconscious and then the flaming hair general shot him dead. Lavi stifled his gasp.

After several seconds, Cross opened the Chamber, threw the guard in before entering the room itself. Then after that, Lavi heard some sounds then nothing. After several minutes of waiting, nothing else happened. No sounds. Nothing and so, the red head decided to check. When he did, he found an empty chamber only full of blood.

Lavi himself still couldn't quite figure out why would the general rescue the man. So, the junior bookman assumed that there was a reason, a really strong and valid one. His eye narrowed at the thought. Something was amiss here but the junior bookman can't put really place it.

"Damn it." He muttered, his record was not complete and his mind won't just accept it. Now he feels that the incomplete record was missing a major information that needs to be known after the incident he saw with the general helping Allen's father escape. "Just, who are you exactly, Allen Walker?"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|End of Chapter|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: *sighs* I'm without any internet connections for a few days… How unfortunate. Oh well. Managed to update and post this one though. Reviews are much appreciated and any mistakes spotted, do tell. Oh and my gratitude to those who reviewed last chapter. ^^ Oh by the way, to those who is reading this other story of mine: "Just like a Fairytale" I actually drew the Kanda from Chapter two (Allen in Lotusland) and if you want to view it, there's a link to it in my profile.


	7. Reaching out

This is a simple disclaimer.

**Chapter Six**

**Reaching out  
**

Silvery white hair. Sharp golden eyes. A dark skin tone. His black deformed arm. Crosses aligning his forehead. Not forgetting the red scar that stood out, lining his left face. Also the strange dark shadow that is present behind his reflection. Allen Walker was at loss. He really is. He was standing in front of the mirror, staring at his shirtless reflection. Wondering how everything had managed to change in such a short time.

"Mana…" He mumbled as the white-haired Noah tore his gaze away from his own reflection. His father… 'I miss you, Mana…' His heart ached. He had this sinking feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same… Not to mention that Allen's worry for his father was slowing eating him inside out. He needed to know what happened to Mana, one way or another.

'Then what?' Allen paused at that thought. He never planned that far. He glanced back at the mirror, meeting the image of his new self. 'If Mana saw me like this…' Allen shook his head as unnecessary thoughts clouded his mind. What if Mana didn't recognize him? And if he did, what if Mana didn't accept him? 'NO!' Allen screamed to those thoughts. 'Mana accepted me even with this deformed arm of mine at first, he won't mind…' Then that sentence was followed by another one that made Allen mentally slap himself.

'That is if Mana is still alive…' shaking his head furiously, Allen tried to make those thoughts go away. His mind was just jumping to conclusions! Really petrifying ones too.

"Allen~!" the boy was startled at the voice and not even a second later, he was being embraced by a navy-haired girl.

"R-Rhode." He stuttered out as he tried to balance himself with the girl literally hanging onto him. Allen welcomed the warm gesture as he felt like he needed one… 'Mana used to hug me like this when I'm feeling confused…' The white-haired boy widened his eyes at that moment. He needed to stop thinking like that! Mana will get a chance to hug him again! Somehow. He was frustrated at himself but he didn't know why.

It seemed Rhode sensed his frustrations. The Noah of Dreams raised her head up to take a look at her new brother.

"Ne, Allen? Is something bothering you?" the First Noah asked the golden eyes of the boy met with her navy ones.

"um… actually," Allen was a bit hesitant on how he should put it. He did not want to be rude to his new family. They had treated him like own of their own for the past few days when he was hurting like hell in bed. I want to go and see Mana again… that was what Allen wanted to reply in return but his tongue was not working, mostly because Allen himself was not sure whether Mana was still ali- 'No!!' Allen frowned. No matter how many times he tried to stop himself from thinking that way, he still ended up thinking like that.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Rhode was unsure why but all of a sudden, Allen just frowned. Did he not like their family? Did he not enjoy being with them? Surely not. Maybe the boy was just confused about the current happenings. Yeah, that must be it. Rhode let out a giggle. The white-haired boy must still be puzzled regarding the sudden development, they have not told him any information yet other than that he was not an ordinary human and that he was part of the Noah family.

"Hehe, Allen! It is almost time for dinner!" she chirped, as she hugged him tighter earning an 'omf' from the teen. "You need to dress up! I want you to be all cute!!" The Noah chuckled gleefully.

"C-cute?" a slight blush spread on the boy's face as he stared a bit horrifyingly at the spiky girl.

"Sure~!! Lemme help you dress up, brother!!" Rhode's bright smile didn't fool Allen one bit. He can see the mischievous glint in those innocent-looking eyes.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Killed?!" Komui was quite surprised at the news. He had just received information that Mana Walker, the one who had managed to escape the Chamber a few days ago was now dead. "How so?"

Leverrier smirked at the expression the supervisor made. He instructed Link to explain.

With a nod, the 19 year old crow began, "Some of the Crows had found him trying to escape by climbing down the cliff. Walker had shown signs of struggle and was shot when he tried to fight back."

"His body?" the bespectacled man pressed on.

"Fell down the cliff. Probably eaten by the alligators down the river already," Howard Link continued indifferently.

Komui let out a tired sigh. They need to know how the man knew about Black Order and such and his information might have been vital if it was proved that the clown was an accomplice of the Earl. However, that all is no longer now since the man is dead already.

"Why the unhappy reaction? We have destroy a man that might have been delivering information to the Earl regarding the Black Order," Leverrier said as he stood up. "Very well, I am heading back to Central for a while. When I am back, make sure the parasitic innocence user, the Walker kid, is now an exorcist of the Black Order. I trust that is fine with you?" With merely a second glance, the man turned around and left the office room with Inspector Link in tail.

As soon as they were outside, Link suspiciously looked around.

"Sir, was it alright? What if someone finds him?" Howard said in a low voice.

"Well, you make sure they don't." the brushed shaped moustache man sharply replied, "Central must not hear of this. If they found out an ordinary human were able to escape the Chamber under my watch that easily…" Link nodded in understanding.

"Furthermore, Mana Walker's disappearance is a mystery. No one saw him went out of the Order and it is quite impossible to move that much in his current condition," the superior continued his deductions.

"I noticed that too sir, could there be a traitor among us?"

That question was quite unnerving. To have an accomplice of the Earl to be in the same ranks in the Black Order… That person must be a skilled spy.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

As soon as the doors to the office was shut, the three occupants in the room looked at one another with a serious expression.

"That was definitely a lie." Lavi stated without hesitation when Bookman glanced at them.

"Are you sure you saw General Cross?" Komui skeptically asked the red head. "I mean, it could just be-"

"A bookman has a photographic memory." The old panda man cut in, "I trust my apprentice's skill." At this the rabbit cocked a grin, "even if he is an idiot." Bookman smirked when his successor looked offendedly at him.

Komui rubbed him forehead in an attempt to sort the things out in his head. Right before Leverrier had come in, Lavi had explained what he saw. Of course, they were about to explain the same thing to the Chief Inspector but he told them that they had found Mana Walker and killed him. Proving that the Inspector was not telling the truth and was hiding something.

"Still, I wonder why Cross helped that man escaped. How did the general even know Mana Walker?" the junior bookman voiced his thoughts.

The room fell silent for a while.

"Well, if you want to find the answer, we might be able to get it from his son, Allen Walker." Komui suggested and this sure interested the other two. "As you have heard, Inspector Leverrier wants us to find the boy as soon as possible…" Komui turned around and picked a bundle of paper from the table which held the current info they have on the boy, "Since most of our exorcists are out on other missions now, would you two care to take this mission?"

Lavi grinned at the supervisor's way. It was just too easy to bypass that Leverrier.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The dining room was unusually silent. Normally, there would be the twins quarreling noises, Skin voicing his complains and Lero noisily asking for them all to shut up even though by doing that the umbrella was contributing in the noise too. However, today it was different. The silent atmosphere was due to the new Noah. Even the Earl was skeptically looking at him before giving a glance at the First Child who was the only one beaming with excitement.

"Rhode… It is kind of unhealthy for you to cross dress your sibling." The Earl started. Allen blushed deeply when he mentioned the word 'cross dress'.

"Aww! But Earl!! There wasn't any clothes that fits Allen!!" Rhode did have a point. Tyki's clothes were just far too big. Skin is totally out of the list. Lulubelle… that is not an option either. Leaving Jasdevi's but their room is a total mess, too little time to find some clothes for Allen in time for dinner.

"Well boy, it seems you are a little sister now too, eh?" Tyki snickered at Allen's reaction, a nice spread of red, "At least Rhode will have a friend to play now." Secretly, the Portuguese was glad that there was someone else for Rhode to pester with.

"T-That is- can't I just wear my old clothes?" Allen tried to wriggle himself out of the ridiculous dress he was wearing.

"That can't do, Allen." The Millennium Earl answered as he took a bite of food, "Those clothes of yours were filthy and inappropriate."

Allen let out a sigh as he started to eat. His appetite did surprise the other Noahs but they did not make a comment out of it.

"oh, Allen." the said boy turned his attention away from the food towards the Earl with his wide grin. "I have a feeling you want to see your father again."

At the mention of Mana, Allen widened his eyes. 'How did the Earl know?' The white hair Noah just stared at the Earl absent mindedly. This was just plain creepy to the boy.

"His Father?" Rhode was curious.

"Your foster father, right Allen?" Earl continued as he gave the fellow Noah his all-knowing grin. "Though, are you sure you are able to accept the result at the end when you get your answer?"

The new Noah just remained quiet, food totally forgotten as he reflected the Earl's words. 'What did he meant by the last sentence?' And that was what he pondered about until the dinner ended.

"Okay, we are done for today~" the Earl announced, "Ah! Allen, you need some new clothes. Tyki and Rhode will accompany you out to buy some! After that you can search for your father but be back before tomorrow's dinner! We have not properly explained to you about the Noahs and such!" With that impossibly large grin of his, the Millennium Earl left the dining table.

"oooohhh~ shopping!" Rhode shrieked as she hugged Allen, "This is going to be fun Allen! Now we can make you even cuter!!" squeals.

"Now Rhode, the Earl won't like that. He needs to be more gender conscious looking…" Tyki interrupted, saving Allen from a long day of trying out different girlish clothes to Rhode's heart content. "Besides, he also wants to find his foster father. That will take time."

"Aww… You are no fun!" The female Noah pouted but then smiled again, "If that is the case, I'll just find an attractive attire for you to wear at the next ball!"

"B-Ball?" Allen questioned. He had never been to a ball before! His dancing skills are raw! This new family of his was a noble family, of course they go do things like this. Allen groaned. "Please, just let me out of this dress first…"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"I liked you better in that dress!" Rhode complained but she never let go of Allen's left hand which she was clinging to.

They had managed to found some clothes in the twin's room (seeing Allen didn't want to be seen in public with a dress on) but the style didn't really fit the white-haired boy that much. He put on the sleeveless white shirt with a red X sign as the only decoration (this is Debitto's) and also a plain black jacket to make up for the lack of sleeves. The trousers Allen was wearing however, belonged to Tyki. They just cut the extra length so that it was not too long for the boy seeing Jasdevi's trousers were downright tight and uncomfy, as Allen put it.

"Honestly boy, the dress earlier doesn't seem too bad now…" Tyki agreed which gave the young man a shock.

"What?!" The boy looked at the taller man with wide eyes. His thoughts were on the lines of: Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Don't tell me he is a…

"Don't give that look. No I am not what you think I am." The Noah of Pleasure seemed to sense the white-haired boy's thoughts.

The trio halted in front of a plain store. Allen insisted that he just wants a plain gentleman cloth with white shirt, black trousers and jacket. Since Rhode and Tyki doesn't want him to be wearing some plain shirts and trousers, that was the best choice the three of them can agree with. The door of the store was made of glass and there the cursed boy can see his reflection.

Every time he saw his reflection he just had to pause for a while and stare at the image. He was not sure why but Allen can guess that it was due to the fact that he was still unfamiliar with the person staring back at him with his own eyes not to mention the dark shadow that reflects behind him. The Noah realized that only he was able to see the shadow.

Though, Allen must say, he was glad when his new siblings told him that he can revert back to his 'white' form just like Rhode did but Tyki preferred to say in his 'black' form when he was with their family. He didn't say why and Allen respected his privacy. Though, the teen was still a bit lost and puzzled on how he can do unusual things like that. The seemingly youngest female Noah explained that it was because they were Noahs, the superior humans. Again, Allen still didn't get it clearly but the Earl did say everything will be explained by dinner tomorrow. He is just grateful that the Millennium Earl understood his need to search for Mana. The fourteenth Noah was snapped out of his reverie when the glass door opened.

The Noah of Pleasure had opened the said doors when Allen was spacing out. Immediately, Rhode rushed to the section where something caught her eye, pulling the white-haired Noah with her.

"This one looks nice!" chirped the spiky haired girl as she pulled out the attire. "Ne, Allen?" she held the attire in front of her as she gave him a warm smile. A smile that the cursed Noah was surprised to see.

'That warm smile…' he can't help the nostalgic feeling. It was just like Mana's when they both were pending time with each other like a family. A family. Allen didn't really realized it before since he was too absorbed in finding Mana and worrying about his foster father but somehow… he was really getting attached to this new family of his. 'I wonder how it'll be if Mana was with us like this now…'

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Che. Why the hell do I always end up with you?" a dark haired samurai scowled as the three exorcists walked down the street. It was quite full of people; it was already evening and an hour after dinner.

"What can I say Yuu? Fate destined us to be together!" joked the red head which made Kanda glared morbidly at him.

"Guys, I know you need to find this innocence user but do you know where exactly he is?" the other exorcist asked, she looked around the city they were in. "This is just the nearest largest city to the HQ… why here?"

".tsk" Lavi pointed his finger at the naïve girl. "Lenalee… If there is something I am proud of. It is my accurateness on assuming things. I have a hunch it is here so…" Before the sentence was finished, a sharp cold tip of Mugen was only a centimeter away from the junior bookman's precious throat.

"You brought us here, just by a feeling?!" growled the samurai pressing the sword nearer to the neck.

"Kanda!" Lenalee yelled as she pushed the two aside. "We'll just have to trust his instinct since we can start from scratch." Which was true since none of them knew where the heck where the boy went.

As if arranged by fate or some unearthly strong force of coincidence, a group of three came out of a store nearby, catching the three exorcists' attention.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"Definitely more suitable." Tyki commented at the boy after he put on the white shirt and black jacket along with black trousers too. "We'll take this."

Just then, Rhode came running holding something. "Put these on too!" she ordered as the girl gave the white-haired boy a pair of white gloves. "Your current gloves are way too torn." Allen gave a glance at his old gloves, yes it was badly torn.

Allen thanked the navy-haired girl as he replaced the gloves. After doing so, Rhode immediately encircled her arms over the young boy's neck with a giggle.

"R-rhode?" The said female released her hands but Allen can see the red thin cloth on both her hands as the Noah of Dreams tied a simple loose bow on his collar.

"There!" she joyfully clapped her hands as she gave the boy a hug for the countless time that day. "You look more like one of us now!" She giggled.

"Okay, let the boy go Rhode," Tyki commanded as he paid for the clothes, "You are scaring him."

"No I'm not! You are just jealous Tyki~" Rhode stuck her tongue out playfully as the three head for the doorway. "Ne, Allen? Where should we start finding this foster father of yours?" The First Child didn't care about those humans but if it made her new sibling happy, why not? It is just like with Tyki hanging out with his human friends.

"I- I don't know…" the cursed boy replied as they stepped out of the store, "He was taken by the Black Order people…" Allen recalled the last time he saw those exorcists, they were hit by Timcanpy. Speaking of the golden golem… 'Where did it went?' The young teen hadn't seen Tim since the time he woke up with that new left hand of his.

The trio turned to their left and was met with another group of three, bearing the Rose Cross on their uniforms indicating that they were from the Black Order. Allen stared shocked by the sudden encounter as he recognizes two of the three exorcists.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

It had been a few days since he was rescued by the womanizer from the Black Order. A few days of healing in bed and thinking of what was happening to Allen by now. Mana sighed as he forced his body to move. Each contraction of his muscle hurts like hell.

He was now standing beside the bed, holding onto one of the tables nearby for support. The clown was not going to waste time like this. Every time he woke up from his sleep, which was by the way not of his own will since Cross knocked him out once regain conscious to make sure he didn't try to do something stupid like he was trying to do now. However, Cross seemed to be out this time when he woke up and that gave Mana the chance to do the 'stupid' action as Cross put it.

He needed to make a door to the ark and find Allen… Before Mana can make another move though, the door was bang open and in goes the general with a cigarette in between his lips. Upon seeing the clown standing up, Marian Cross narrowed his eye.

"You were always so stubborn." He commented before taking out the black hammer again. "I said rest until you heal, damn it." The hammer was hold up as Mana's eyes widened at the object, "You can worry about that idiot son of yours afterwards." The target was hit perfectly and landed with a 'thud' on the floor.

"Tch, how troublesome." The scarlet haired general put the hammer away, not caring to put the man back on his bed. "I'll just ask for some room service or something to do that later."

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Lavi stared at those grayish blue eyes. The owner of those eyes didn't look familiar, heck Lavi would have remember any adolescent having white hair with his memory but he was sure he had never seen this boy before. However, he also ahd this feeling that he knew the boy from somewhere. Those eyes… He had been captured by them just like he was now, before. 'but where?' the junior bookman thought.

His memory rewind back to previous events and finally stopped at the time at the circus.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-End of Chapter-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Unexpectedly… I am bringing you readers the next chapter… Hope you enjoyed it since this will be the last chapter for a while… until I return from my Exam tortures after November 13th. Though, if I have a chance, I might just update sometime in the next one week or so. Don't get your hopes up though. Again, thanks to those who reviewed… Since reviews are much appreciated.


	8. Searched and found

D . gray – man is truly not mine.

**Chapter Seven**

**Searched and found**

After one short month with the Noah family, Allen was feeling more like home than he ever did. Though, the time and feeling he spent with Mana was still precious and is far more… the boy can't quite find a word to describe it but he was sure that the heart-warming feeling that Mana gave to him is irreplaceable. His new family can make him feel that warm sensation but the sensation was just not a full as Mana's was.

Letting out a short sigh, the white-haired boy decided to think about something else. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling above him. The early morning rays were absence even though it was... Allen turned to his side to take a glimpse of the time, even though it was already eight in the morning. Well, this is the Noah mansion; natural sunlight is just not so common in that place.

"Morning, huh…" the young Noah murmured as he sat up from his large double-sized bed. "Today was supposed to be the day I am going to infiltrate the Dark Order…" he paused for a while before continuing, "…alone."

Never had he done something as dangerous as this by himself. The entire one month he had been here, the others taught him how things were 'done'. At first, he was not comfortable in the max about the whole ideal. However, as time goes on, he learnt that whatever The Earl asked him to do, it was necessary for him to survive. Just like back at the time when he was abandoned in the streets, he had to do wrong things that were against the law… just to keep on living. What he was doing now was no different than before. Just that the things were more… extreme. Yeah, extreme. That would be a good word to use.

Besides, if he decided to stop, he won't be able to find Mana… His thoughts were drifted back to his wonderful foster father.

"Mana…" the grip on the edge of his blanket tightened in determination. Yes, that was the reason he decided to infiltrate the Black Order today… to find what they did to Mana. Also, hopefully help Mana escape from the organization too.

"That is nice and all Allen~ but don't forget the other reason you have to be there…" the sudden childish voice in his mind made the white-haired Noah jerked his head up only to find the Noah of Dreams grinning playfully at him at the end corner of his bed. How she got there was not a mystery to Allen as he already suspected that the girl used her doors.

"Rhode… please, don't invade my personal space." Allen said as the navy haired female climbed up his bed and proceeded to lie near the boy's leg.

"Sorry Allen… but I just can't help it!" she giggled, "Oh, like I said, don't forget the other reason why you are there you know! Or else Earl will be cross at you~"

"Of course, I will do whatever I can to keep moving forward and disobeying the Earl's order might just make me stop moving." The other Noah replied casually as like he had used that answer many times already – which he actually has.

Rhode chuckled as she playfully punches her brother's shoulder. "Stop saying that sentence! You always say that when it is related to the Earl's order!" Allen laughed at this earning a pout for the First Child.

"Anyways, is the preparation finished? I want to start after my breakfast."

"Knowing your appetite Allen, the preparations will be long done after you've finished eating~"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The Skulls, some sort of scientist working for the Earl but instead of using advanced technologies, they use ancient magic to operate and make things. As three Noahs entered the huge room, several of the cloaked figures quickly advanced themselves towards them carrying something in their hands.

"Lord Noah," they greeted monotonously as they revealed a simple choker with a small pendant attached to it to the tallest Noah, a man clad in a tux.

"Hmm?" the curly-haired man picked up the object and inspected it. The pendant had the shape of a pentagon, the front side was black in color and the opposite side was silver in color.

"This is an accessory that will enable him to return him back to his first form." One of the skulls explained as The Noah of Pleasure smirked and slowly put it around the fourteenth's Noah neck.

As soon as it was placed, the chains automatically tightened itself around the white haired Noah's neck, effectively making it fit comfortably around the neck. After it did so, the white strands of hair darkened until it settled to a nice shade of brown while the red scar on the Noah's face blended into the skin till the teen's face was pale without any evidence that a scar had been there before.

Both the Noah of Dreams and Noah of Pleasure blinked in slight amazement as they watched the transformation. Though, within a split second, the spiky haired Noah chuckled happily as she hugged onto her dear brother.

"Aww! Allen!! You look so adorable!!" she squealed out as she loosened her hug, "Now, they will surely recognize you as the boy they saw at the circus!!"

Tyki nodded in agreement as he dismissed the skulls, not even thanking them for their work on such a device. Though, the skulls don't need thanks anyway.

"Also this way, they won't associate you to both of us since if you did appear with that scar and white hair of yours, they'll instantly suspect something weird as three of those exorcists had seen you in that form before."

Allen nodded as he recalled back that day.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-A month ago-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Allen tensed when the owner of the green orb had realized something.

'Please, don't let him recognize me! Not just yet!!' he prayed in his heart but then another thought pop up, 'Hey… if he knows that I am Allen Walker then won't he know where Mana is? He did take him after all!!' Tempted at that idea, the white haired boy was about to let himself known to the exorcists when Rhode suddenly cling on to him.

"Ne, brother! Let's go to the candy shop next!!!" Allen noted the change of her voice; she made it more innocently cheerful and childish than before. "I'm hungry!! We can buy some for uncle Skin too!!"

The navy haired girl giggled playfully and quickly pulled the boy away towards some random direction before the white haired boy can protest. The two children ran off leaving the Noah of Pleasure behind with the three exorcists.

Adapting to the sudden change of situation, Tyki let out a strained sigh and then gave the three exorcists a tires chuckle.

"Children these days… so active, huh?" he spoke casually a she looked at the direction where the two had run off.

"So, are they your kids??" the red headed exorcist asked earning a questioning look from his fellow comrades while the tall man just raised his eyebrows.

'Kids?? Do I look that old to you?' that was what Tyki wanted to say but he prevented himself from doing so. I can just kill them some time in the future… he decided.

"No. No. They are my brother's children." He gently shook his head. "Oh, I must leave. Can't have them getting lost, now." With a nod and a mannerly tip of his hat, the Noah walked away.

"Lavi, is there something wrong?" even from a distance, the Noah of Pleasure was still able to hear their voices, after all, a Noah's senses are more developed than a normal human's.

"I don't know… the boy seemed familiar… Somehow, my mind click back to the user we are searching," Tyki recognized this voice as the red head's earlier.

"Che. Baka Usagi, is that sole eye of yours getting defective, too? He can't be that weak kid. His hair is different and look at that scar on his face. He didn't have that before."

Tyki smirked as he had heard enough. The exorcists weren't certain on the fact that the boy was indeed the innocence user from before. That was good. As he continued walking, he encountered Rhode pouting in front of a cross looking Allen.

"-might have known where Mana is!!!" the new Noah cried out as he jerked his head to the side when he sensed Tyki approaching.

"That is true, boy. However, you need to rest up fully first and practice some things before hand. Then we'll come up with a plan. No rush." The Noah of pleasure said as he took out a cigarette and lighted it.

"Then, what if it is too late?!" the boy retorted.

"Allen! Don't you trust us?" The Noah of Dreams spoke up, "Just be patient and things will turn out fine!" At this point, she gave a bright smile, "The Earl will have something in store, I am sure! So, don't worry, ne?"

The white haired boy hesitated before nodding in agreement. "…Fine."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Rhode chuckled as she quickly got back to her usual self, "Earl is expecting us for dinner!!"

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-The present-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The Black Order Headquarters, the atmosphere was quite heavy and it was the heaviest in the library where a certain red head had just groaned in displeasure.

"We've been searching for a month… Still no sign…" a pig tailed Chinese girl stated tiredly as she rested herself on the couch. "This mission is not going well…"

"Lenalee… Don't say that. Someone is already being in a bad mood because of this mission," the red head earlier replied as his only working eye glanced at the long haired samurai who was standing at a corner of the room, hands crossed and his face was a pissed off as ever.

The younger of the Lee siblings sighed as she looked over at the papers about the young new innocence user.

"You know… He might have come willingly if only Leverrier's man didn't kill his father." Lenalee thought out loud.

"…" Lavi remained quiet. Only three people excluding Cross Marian, in the Black Order knows the fact that Leverrier was lying and Mana Walker was still alive out there, probably with that General.

"Tch, this is a waste of time," the samurai exorcist scoffed as he left the room, the other two aware that he must be heading to the meditation room.

"So, Lavi…" the female Lee sibling started as she put the papers aside and sat across the junior bookman. "How does he look like when you were at the circus?"

"Hmm?" her companion drawled out indicating that he wasn't certain who she was referring to. "If you're talking about Yuu, he was really pissed. You should have seen his expression back then! Wait- I think there's a golem here that recorded-"

"I'm not talking about Kanda!" the pigtailed girl cut off in annoyance, "I mean the boy. Allen!"

"Allen? You've just gone through his file and there's a picture of him too." Lavi pointed out as a matter-of-factly, not catching why Lenalee was suddenly intend on knowing how Allen looked like after just looking at his picture in the report.

"I know. I'm asking you how he looks like from your point of view,"

The red head paused for a while. So Lenalee was interested in a bookman perspective? That was… odd.

"Uh, I can't say for sure but how I see him is just like how the report described it."

"and how's that?"

"You just read the report Lenalee." Lavi put on a confused face, "What do you expect me to say anyway? And why these questions? It's kind of weird."

"Just answer me," came the stern answer.

Letting out a sigh, the red head lamented. "I saw him first when he was performing. He wore some kind of joker hat and a half clown half joker like outfit. Mostly consisted of matched colors of silver, black, white and gray." He paused for a moment to take a look at the girl in front of him. Her eyes were determined and it was like she was expecting something from him. Whatever it was, Lavi sure as hell have no clue about it. "He even had gloves on. I think he wore them to hide his parasitic arm."

"How was his performance?" Lavi gave Lenalee a straight look.

"Why are you asking me that?" It was irrelevant to this mission isn't it? Though, Lavi just had to answer that question when Lenalee gave him that look of hers again. "Fine. He was skillfully juggling small daggers while steadying himself on top of a ball." Lavi recalled that moment and an instant picture of the boy's pale face came into view with that bright energetic smile of his, without knowing it, the red head smiled a little. "He seemed to enjoy doing it."

"How can you tell?" Lenalee's voice seemed so far off even though she was near the junior bookman.

"It wasn't hard, his smile told everything and that enjoyment also reflected in his eyes," the response was merely a reflex as the red head stared into the grayish orbs of the imaginary boy's face in his mind. Even in memory, those eyes still managed to intrigued him and pull him in.

In the daze, Lavi didn't realize that the Chinese exorcist beside him was grinning in content.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Kanda was having his peaceful time meditating when the golem above him beeped signaling an incoming caller or something like that.

"Kanda." Komui's voice ranged through, "Hurry and meet me in the office. There's a recent update on your current mission,"

Immediately, the Japanese's exorcist eyes snapped open. He quickly put on his coat and grabbed Mugen before walking out of the room in a quick pace. Why was he so eager? That was simple. Kanda just had enough of this mission. He wanted to find this kid as fast as he could so that he could just get over with it and have a new mission involving beating the crap out of an akuma which he had not enough of doing this whole month.

Before you know it, the samurai exorcist had already stood in front of the office and opened the doors. The idiotic rabbit and the supervisor's sister, already present. This better lead to the end of the mission, Kanda thought begrudgingly.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

The brunette sighed in content as he wiped his mouth in a respectful manner. After he did so, he quickly left the restaurant after not having paid since the owner was an akuma which was one of the best parts in being with the Noah family. He gets to eat as much as he wants for free! That was a big deal considering just a month ago, Mana and himself had to work hard a full day and night just to have a small food serving which was satisfying to Mana but not enough for Allen's large appetite that at times, Mana would sacrifice some of his hunger needs .

The parasitic innocence user frowned at that. Mana did a lot of things for him and Allen can't repay any of those. Now, that his father was kidnapped and after a month, who know what had happened to him. What if he- immediately, the fifteen years old shook his head in dismissal of that idea.

"I promised myself not to think such things." He muttered. "Mana will be fine." Though, the boy didn't want to admit it, somewhere in the back of his mind, he added another word: hopefully.

Something reflected beside the boy making him closed his eyes due to the powerfully light rays. Sometimes, having acute Noah's senses are troublesome since all the senses is multiplied to be sensitive even when you are not in the black form. After a few seconds, the brunette blinked and when his vision refocused, he was staring at his own reflection from a large glass window – the object where the light had apparently been reflected.

He smiled nostalgically. He missed this form, he stared at the brown-haired boy in front of him with a dark shadow looming behind – though, that shadow he didn't miss since it was always present when he was either in his black or white form. His true appearance that Mana had remembered him with. Deep inside, Allen feared that his father would be shock and in denial if he were to see him in his Noah form or even with his bleached hair and cursed face. Speaking of the weird marking across his left eye, Allen never had known where he got it. It certainly wasn't part of the transformation as a Noah as Tyki had said, so where did it come from?

A movement from a corner of the reflection caught Allen's attention. Inwardly, he smirked. It definitely was a man clad in a brown robe, a finder of the Black Order as the Earl had explained to him. It had been just a few hours since he made himself known to this small town. First in the plan, was to attract attention from the organization since they had apparently been searching for him. That was simple since the finders were practically crawling in almost every popular part of town in their gather of information.

Now he just had to wait for some exorcists to be dispatched and take him away to that cursed place where his father –hopefully, is. The brunette was about to move on to find a place to stay since he figured it might take a while for them to take action but the emergent of three figures each with a different design of black uniform but the rose-cross logo was unmistakable, indicating that they were the exorcists dispatched.

The fourteenth Noah pretended to take interest on the object displayed behind the glass as he kept his guard up. When the exorcist was near enough for him to know their faces, his stomach immediately churned. By some twisted fate, they were the same guys that kidnapped his father and also the same group that saw him a month ago.

"Steady yourself. You mustn't let emotions get control, boy." A familiar voice warned in his head. It was the Noah of Pleasure.

"Tyki! We shouldn't register telepathic contact when I'm at the Black Order!" the brunette quickly thought back while the group was nearing him. They were walking very casually towards him, maybe they didn't want to be suspicious or something. However, Allen knew that he needed his mind alone to make this work! Not with Tyki making some comments when he was socializing with them later.

"But you're not in the Black Order yet, Allen~" The new addition of a childish voice made Allen groaned. Not Rhode too… This was way too much.

"Please, let me be. I can't focus with the thought of you guys in my head." The brunette begged. He had to.

"Aww, Allen! We are here to help you, don't worry!" Somehow, the teen doubted that statement.

"Excuse me!" a loud voice from his left interrupted the mental conversation as the brunette quickly swiped towards the direction of the voice, to meet the gaze of a purple eyed exorcist.

The Chinese girl gave him a friendly smile. "Sorry for the high voice. You didn't seem to hear me when I called you a few times." Allen was still a bit stunned by the sudden appearance. Shoot! He was supposed to be ready but his family just made that preparation all go to waste. He wanted to reply but no words came into mind. He had some carefully structured sentences a few seconds ago!!

"You must be really interested in that hat." She continued when Allen didn't answer. The boy took another look at exactly what the object he had been pretending to stare for a while, it was a jester's hat with mismatched red and black colour. It was almost the same as the last hat he had wore for his performance. The irony.

"Um, yeah." Allen had to admit that was a stupid reply but really, where did all his verbs and adjectives go?!

"Are you alone?" the exorcist continued asking.

The strayed innocence user knew he was being tested or something here. He was not supposed to know this girl (even if he does) so that was why only the female came to greet him while the other two must have waited somewhere else.

"Allen! She is expecting your answer," Rhode piped up when he didn't respond for a good ten seconds.

"Uh, no. I mean yes!" Allen stuttered nervously.

"Why are you so nervous boy??" Tyki was a bit alarmed that he wasn't doing quite well.

"I… I forgot!"

"Forgot?" the boy wasn't if Tyki or Rhode said that.. Was it Rhode? But it can't be since the voice sounded more mature and Tyki was out of question since the one who said this sounded feminine.

"I never had talked to a lady before in my life!! Mana said to act gently towards them but I never had practiced doing so!" he desperately replied.

"Allen! you just said that out loud!!" the Noah of Dreams stressed out.

Widening his eyes, the fourteenth Noah clasped his mouth with both hands as he stared in horror at the pigtailed girl in front of him.

"What did you forgot?" she asked in confusion.

Allen by now was panicking, why? He wasn't entirely sure. "Sorry! But I need to go now!" with that he turned on his heels and ran off just like that.

He ignored the exorcist's cries to stop and continued running.

"Allen! Where are you going??" Rhode asked in his head amidst the unexpected change in direction of plans.

"I, I don't know."

"Calm down boy!"

"Ah! Which part did she heard?"

"Just when you said you've forgotten!!"

"What?!" Oh, how the boy hated things right now. Couldn't his sister just say that earlier?! Then he wouldn't have to be so panicky like now. What should he do?? Mana! He mentally screamed. He had just blown his chance to find out where his foster father had gone! He was too nervous about the plan and talking to a lady that he screwed up. He never had done anything like this alone before! In this whole month, either Tyki or Rhode had helped in him and in his whole life Mana was the one he relied on. Only if he had realized how dependent he is sooner!

Too caught up in all the thoughts that had bombarded his mind, Allen didn't realize where he was going. By the time his senses kicked in, he had somehow slipped and his body felt heavy all of a sudden. His siblings shouts to use an ark door quickly was unheard.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

"What happened Lenalee??" Lavi asked as they ran towards the direction where Allen ran off. The boy was still in sight, but man, he was fast!

"He said he forgot and when I asked what he forgot, he took off just like that!" the Chinese exorcist answered.

"The kid, he's heading for the harbor." The dark-haired exorcist stated as the three expertly dodged the passer-bys while the brunette just knocked the people down without looking back "Is he even looking where he is going?"

That question was answered when the assumed to be unaware boy, slipped the wet floor near the sea, knocked his head near the side tile and downright fell into the ocean.

"That was stupid." Kanda muttered under his breath.

Lenalee immediately activated her dark boots and in the next second, she was already plummeting into the sea.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

He felt someone applying force on his stomach that made him cough and to his utter confusion, instead of plain air, he was coughing out liquid, water it seemed. As he kept on coughing out water he heard relieved sighs, both in his head and around him.

"You're okay Allen!" he can hear Rhode worried voice, "You should have concentrated more on where you are going!"

"what happened?" he didn't say this out loud, since he was still coughing.

"Apparently, the exorcists rescued you from drowning." Tyki bluntly told him.

"What?!" At this, he half open his eyes, his head was still feeling a bit sluggish. He was met with the sight of the three earlier exorcists.

"Thank god, you're okay!" the female one that talked to him earlier said when she saw him awake. "Are you able to-"

The rest was blanked out when he felt his consciousness slipped away. He really needed a rest. A panic attack followed with water filling your lungs, isn't good. Especially if you are a Noah with low control of your abilities and an innocence user with no knowledge on how to invocate your innocence.

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-End of chapter-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Azure: That ending was kind of lame…

Zuenira: Sure is. And how come you have time to update?! I still have several chapters to read!! Another exam paper is tomorrow!

Azure: Let's just say, my hands suddenly moved of its own accord.

Zuenira: This story seemed to have that effect on you, a lot.

Azure: It isn't the 13th November even. –sighs- Exams are such a drag. I can't wait for it to be over n two weeks time.

Zuenira: Why aren't you reading anyway?!?

Azure: Too lazy…

Zuenira: Are you serious?! This is an important exam!!

Azure: Yeah, I get that lecture a lot. Besides, this story needs an update. I think. Oh well. Whatever. I feel that after the exam, I'm going on a lazy vacation, so… I don't think I will update this anytime sooner. Except if I'm too bored or I have a motivation (which is quite rare). So yeah. Hope you readers enjoyed this.

Zuenira: I thought you've started on writing the next chapter.

Azure: Ah, I did. But it's still around 700 words, I have to study too.

Zuenira: I thought you said you're too lazy to study.

Azure: that was in the past, now I'm in the mood to study.


End file.
